Triangles
by DemiHuman123
Summary: Regular people tend to live regular lives. At least they seem to be regular at first. Or maybe it's just that one person's definition of regular is more bizarre to them than others. Rigby x Mordecai x Margaret.  Cover art by MockingbirdFly.
1. 24 Hours Open

**Triangles**

By _DemiHuman123_

_I don't own the TV show, Regular Show. I don't own Mordecai, Rigby, Benson, Pops, or the neutral Margaret. Cartoon Network own them, so nobody better come and sue me because I got a copyright up so I'm fine. I think. Though somehow I have a feeling the J.G. Quintell secretly reads his fans fanfiction._

**Chapter One**

_**24 Hours Open**_

Green. A never ending flow of green, created from the combination of yellow and blue. Signifying life and all that is abundant and rich. Signifying the Earth and all who reside on it. Signifying nature, that grows in at great length through the grass and the trees.

The perfect color to represent a nowhere little park in the middle of a nowhere little city, in a nowhere little state, filled with uninteresting and regular people. Of course this isn't to say that these people are regular in the sense that they are boring. Each person has their own little quirks and kinks that make them who they are. In that sense, these nowhere and uninteresting people are anything but regular. Especially in middle of a sleepy, uninteresting, regular park.

Red and blue lights swirled silently on the top of a nearby police car parked in front of a mid-sized two story house located smack dab in the middle of the park. A group of four stood on the porch quietly watching the sight of one of their own being led away in handcuffs.

"I swear I didn't do anything," the gumball machine, Benson, screamed in fear as he was being pushed into the police car. He struggled with the law man who had placed one hand on his cuffs and the other on Benson's back, doing his best to lead him forcibly.

The policeman rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you can say that all you want downtown."

"But I'm telling you the truth," Benson screamed. "I wasn't anywhere near that sink hole!"

The policeman, however, was still not convinced. "Then why were your gumballs scattered everywhere," he questioned the gumball machine, holding up a small sandwich bag filled with gumballs with the label "evidence" stuck on.

"I don't... I mean I-"

"Mm-hm," the policeman interrupted. "That's what I thought."

With that, Benson, kicking and screaming, was thrown into the squad car with the door slammed behind him. The sound proof windows kept his screaming to a decibel minimum keeping anyone from the outside from hearing him.

Happy with his capture, the policeman walked around to the drivers side door, turned to the rest of the on lookers (still standing on the porch in shock), and tipped his hat to them.

The police car drove away quietly into the city.

The group still on porch suddenly snap themselves back into reality as the events of what just happen finally sink in.

"Oh dear," Pops, a lollipop headed man, said as he broke the silence. "What do we do?"

The other three, a large white yeti in pants, a tall legged blue jay, and short messy haired raccoon, all turned to each other for an answer.

The yeti, Skips, simply sighed and walked into the house. He emerged a few moments later with a set of keys and a checkbook. "C'mon Pops," he sighed again, "let's go bail him out of there."

Pops nodded in agreement, adding a "jolly good" as he stepped down from the porch, heading in the direction of a nearby golf cart parked to the side of the house.

Skips sighed again as he too exited the porch and began walking only a few steps behind Pops. He stopped for a moment, however, to acknowledge the blue jay and raccoon still there with a certain look in his eyes. He stared them down with daggers hoping they would notice.

Mordecai, the blue jay, hesitated for a moment upon recognition of that expression. Rigby, his smaller friend, did not.

Thankfully for Mordecai, Skips was content with at least scaring one of them with his death glare and returned to the task at hand.

A few moments later, the golf cart driven by Skips with Pops as passenger drove by the house, leaving both the stragglers to watch as they drove away towards the city.

"Dude," Mordecai finally said in a low soft voice.

"Yeah," Rigby replied in a sort of awe.

Both men just stood there for a moment before finally coming to a realization.

"Coffee shop," Mordecai asked.

"Definitely."

The coffee shop as mentioned by Mordecai always was a good safe haven for the duo when times were rough, and why wouldn't it be: Relatively popular shop, cable TV always playing, affordable prices, and one other thing that the blue bird in general liked about the place. It was an uninteresting and regular coffee house overall though, with nothing that truly made it spectacular. Located in between two small business buildings used for printing animation cells and post cards, so it wasn't anything that stood out save for the coffee cup shaped sign out front.

As the boys entered the coffee house and walked down the stairs, the scent of freshly brewed coffee filled the air. Sounds around the small room were minimal with the only thing being the TV with a news anchor on it spouting something about a sink hole that was the home to a creature that was an "abomination of life and all things that made it good" or something to that nature. It was quickly changed by red feathered fingers reaching up to find something more along the lines of her taste.

The red robin smiled happily as she noticed her two favorite people walk in through the door. "Hey guys," she greeted them.

Mordecai's face instantly lit up upon hearing her beautiful voice.

"Hey Margaret," he cooed.

Rigby sighed in remorse of having agreeing to come here so eagerly and simply greeted Margaret with a quick wave of his hand. She waved back acknowledging the half hearted gesture.

"How are my two favorite people," she asks walking towards them. "Get into any trouble lately?"

Rigby couldn't tell if that was a jab aimed at them or if she was just being cute. Mordecai on other hand still looked doughy eyed with infatuation.

"Uh, no! Just a normal boring day," Mordecai spoke releasing himself from his trance.

Margaret giggled again, and turned away to go back to her job. "That's good. Glad to hear it. Two coffees, pitch black, right?"

Both men nodded in unison and walked over to the chairs they usually set in, leaving the red robin to her job for the moment. They had immediately fallen into their element of laziness and sloth upon sitting, and returned to a discussion earlier in the day about a buried treasure in the park and the aftermath of trying to find it. Their coffee came not too soon afterwards with a little wink added on top by Margaret to the both of them.

Mordecai gave a goofy smile as his reaction, while Rigby shrugged it off, calling his attention to something else in the coffee shop.

"What's that," he asked pointing to an open vacant area to the side of the room.

The area was apparently a work in progress with pieces of splintered wood, nails, and various tools strewn all about, not to mention the bound up pieces of electrical wiring lying in the corner collecting dust.

Margaret grimaced at it and gave an exhausted sigh.

"That WAS supposed to be the new stage that we were setting up to attract some performers," she groaned, "since, you know, the coffee shop has been going to hill."

Mordecai suddenly felt himself snap into the conversation. "Down hill? Like, closing down the store down hill?"

Margaret sighed again before turning her attention to the blue jay and nodding.

"We had to let go one of the morning clerks yesterday," she grieved sitting down next to the duo, "and things aren't getting any better."

She put her hand on top of her other. "We need the business. Otherwise, the manager things we may not last past April."

Mordecai's eyes glazed over a bit after hearing this. The thought of the coffee shop gone was a nearly inexcusable mental image. Where would he go to get his coffee? Where would he and Rigby hang out to act like total idiots without a manger having to ask them to leave? And where would he go to see the lovely and voluptuous Margaret?

"I don't know why we're losing. The store seems pretty popular, and we do seem to make a good profit. I don't know…"

The thought of not being able to see and not getting the chance to never ask her out was just too much to take for poor Mordecai.

Rigby found the conversation to be dull and uninteresting. There was no action or comedy to hold his attention. The only thing of interest was the mess in the corner of his eye.

"Why isn't it done yet," he asked.

"Well, the contractor we hired just up and split the other day," she answered. "Something about having to get out of the state for a while and lay low or something like that I guess."

Margaret sighed once more and looked toward the rubble, while Rigby, looking bored and tired, took another quick sip of his coffee.

Mordecai, on the other hand, was still deep in thought on what he had heard. He was still trying to get over the possible loss of seeing Margaret. Sure, he could exchange numbers or internet messenger accounts to keep in touch, but he was too chicken to that. He wouldn't get that chance to ask her out, court her properly, get married, have kids, grow old, blah, blah, blah, the usual endless romance scenario. As usual, he wasn't placing Margaret's current human boyfriend, Slasher, into the equation, but that was besides the point. The point was that he had a chance of losing what could be his.

And then suddenly, a thought occurred. Not as much of thought, he realized, but an opportunity.

"Dude," he began as he looked toward Rigby, "we should totally finish that stage."

Both Margaret and Rigby did a quick double take before realizing what he just said.

"Finish...," Margaret began.

"...the stage," Rigby finished in a quizzical manner.

Mordecai nodded and got up from his chair. "Totally! If we finish the stage then the shop would stay open, and then you would still have a job, and then Rigby and I could still hang out here!"

The red robin and raccoon exchanged confused looks before returning to the excited blue jay.

"Think about it," he continued, "we can build the stage up, polish the wooding, make a little area to the side for amps and speakers, you know, stuff like that!"

Rigby was skeptical. He knew his friend only went off on these tangents when he knew there was something he could benefit from. His gaze shifted to Margaret. Rigby of course knew the real reason his friend wanted to do it.

"C'mon man, there's no way we could do it," he said taking another sip of coffee. "That's a lot of work and we wouldn't even be getting any money from it."

Mordecai shot a glare at his friend who nonchalantly shrugged it off.

Margaret smiled, looking toward the mess, trying her best to see the image Mordecai was trying to describe to her.

"It's a nice gesture," she said, "but I gotta go with Rigby on this one. It's a lot of time and money that none of us have, and I can't ask you guys to help us with this. Can I?"

"No," Rigby snapped almost immediately, "you can't!"

"Rigby," Mordecai scalded. "Of course we can help!"

"But I-"

Margaret stood up from the table cutting Rigby off. "Can you guys really help us? I mean we can't pay you anything, except coffee and drinks."

"That works out just fine," Mordecai replied with his smile spreading even more.

"Hold on a sec," Rigby tried to interject.

"You know it would take a few weeks," Margaret continued, "and there's no guarantee that it might help the shop."

"It's all good Margaret," the blue jay continued, "you should know by now that you can count on Rigby and I."

The raccoon's tail suddenly stood straight up and he began to grit his teeth. He heard that emphasis on "I" knowing full well what that meant. If this were any other place in the world, Mordecai would have just been a little sad and gotten over it the next day, waiting for the place to close and be done with it. However, with the lovely Margaret there, that made it difficult. How many times have their hair brained schemes, or at least Mordecai's schemes, revolve around her or the act of impressing her? How many times did it always end badly for them, or more specifically Rigby?

"No no," he spat out, "we can't... we won't..."

He found that he was unable to get the words out to argue his case, and found himself being dragged along with the whole experience.

Margaret on the other hand was beginning to come around.

"Well," she said trailing off the end of the word. She just kind of stood there with her eyes focused on the distance, deep in thought. Her answer came shortly after.

"Alright," she continued, "let's do it."

Mordecai's heart rejoiced; Rigby's sank.

The raccoon tried to plead. "But, but..."

Mordecai suddenly ran up to Margaret and gave her a big hug. "You won't regret it," he said with a giant smile on his face, "Rigby and I totally know what to do first to get some extra cash."

Rigby suddenly looked beyond confused.

"We do?"

"Totally, dude," Mordecai answered scooping up his little friend from his chair and heading to the exit.

Rigby couldn't even keep a hold of his coffee cup after being scooped up suddenly, causing it to spill over the table.

"We'll be back tomorrow," Mordecai screamed dashing up the stairs and out the door with his friend under his arm, leaving Margaret with a small, albeit confused, smile on her face and a mess to clean up.

Rigby was not happy with this outcome. He was no happy at all.

"Mordecai! What are you doing?"

"It's totally perfect dude," Mordecai started, "first we help her with stage, then we save the coffee shop, and then Margaret will totally be impressed with me, leave Slasher, and start dating me! Oh, and she'll probably be impressed with you too."

Rigby could not believe what he was hearing; another Margaret attempt.

"I don't want to help you," Rigby jittered out as he was being held along during Mordecai's sprint, "you're stupid attempts at impressing Margaret always end badly for me!"

"No they don't," Mordecai replied too caught up on cloud seven to care.

Rigby groaned knowing full he was wrong.

"Really," he asked annoyed, "the unicorns? The concert tickets? That thing? That other thing?"

"Bro, that other thing was your fault, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Rigby answered slightly embarrassed. That other thing certainly was a crazy thing, but the events leading up to it were so hilarious that they can't be contained in this story.

"Let's say for a second that I did want to help you," Rigby relented, "how would we get the money to pay for everything?"

Mordecai kept a brisk run, knowing the destination. "Leave that to me," he said turning the street corner.

Rigby was about to interject again when he noticed his friend slowing down and coming to a halt in front of...

"The police station," Rigby asked.

Mordecai had a sly grin on his face knowing that what he was going to do would definitely work, or at least was somewhat positive it would work.

"Yeah," Mordecai answered, "we just ask Benson for our paychecks early and then we use that money to pay for wood and fixing stuff."

Rigby really was not enjoying how his day was turning out now. Still though, the thought of being able to get some money early did have its charms. He didn't, however, like the thought of having to give his hard earned cash to his friend so he could try and swoon up a pair of lady pecs. He found himself on the fence about the idea.

The door to the police station opened suddenly. Pops and Skips exited down the stairs leading onto the pavement when they noticed the dynamic duo.

"Oh hello boys," Pops greeted them with his usual trademark smile and cheery disposition, "what are you doing here."

"We wanted to talk to Benson," Mordecai said looking past the two of them, looking for the gumball machine. "Where is he?"

Benson suddenly slammed through the police station doors bright red with rage. Mordecai saw his chance.

"Hey Benson can we-"

"I don't wanna talk to either of you idiots right now after the trouble you just put me through," he said doing his best to keep from screaming at both of them.

"What," Rigby yelled in a shrill voice, "what did we do? It's not our fault you got thrown in jail."

Benson passed them, refusing to stop, heading towards the golf cart parked on the side of the road.

"I don't have any proof to say you two didn't do anything," he started, "but I know you both did it."

Mordecai tried again to plead with the infuriated gumball machine. "We was just wondering if-"

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY," Benson screamed at the top his lungs, "I DON'T WANNA TALK WITH EITHER ONE OF YOU!"

That caused Mordecai to jump, making him lose his grip on Rigby, causing the poor raccoon to plummet to ground face first.

Benson, Skips, and Pops hopped into the golf cart and revved the engine up. Pops looked over from the passenger side to make sure Rigby was alright from his fall, while Skips sat in the backseat looking monotone and stone like. Benson was still bright red though and wasn't done screaming at the boys yet.

"NOW GET YOU BUTTS BACK TO THE PARK AND FILL UP THAT SINK HOLE!"

The gumball machine then slammed his foot down on the acceleration and jetted off with his companions back toward the park.

Mordecai and Rigby just kind of stood there in awe for the moment still recovering from Benson's screaming tirade.

Rigby picked himself up off the ground rubbing his forehead. "Told you it wouldn't work."

_24 Hours Open – Yoko Kanno_

**Author's Notes**

Well, I got the first couple of chapters done as I'm posting this, so hopefully I'll stick with it long enough to actually finish it. If not, I can always do a quickie wrap up. Urg... Feel free to comment and critique. I know my writing style is pretty bad. :P

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	2. Roger Patterson Van

**Chapter Two**

**Roger Patterson Van**

"Let me get this straight," Benson said in-between bites of his breakfast, "you want me to pay you two idiots early, so you can go build a stage at your friend's coffee shop to save it?"

Mordecai nodded immediately, while Rigby only groaned under his breath and brought his cereal bowl up to his mouth to finish off the milk.

Benson was at a loss. There was no way he was going to give these guys their pay a full two week in advance because they wanted to save some stupid coffee shop. The gumball machine had been there once or twice, and wasn't too fond of it. The coffee was too strong, the TV selection was always on some sort of butt rock station, and those two goons were always there instead of doing their work like they're supposed to. He looked over at Pops to gauge a reaction.

As usual, Pops had a childish smile on his face and was giddy with excitement. "Oh, what admirable cause!"

Benson didn't want to hear what was coming next.

"To use your own funds in order to aid a failing establishment!"

"Pops," Benson interrupted slamming his fist down on the table. This quieted the naive lollipop man from gushing any forward. Unfortunately, it also had the effect of making Benson feel bad for yelling at one of the only people he considers a friend. His temper flared down and was replaced with a trace of empathy.

"Sorry Pops," he added, "but I can't give them money this early, even if it is for an 'admirable' cause. They gotta earn it just like everyone else."

"I suppose," Pops said still looking slightly down.

Rigby didn't seem surprised at all by the turn of events. He knew from the start that getting money from Benson wasn't going to work. In his mind it only works if it's his idea. Mordecai's ideas never pan out, Rigby's on the other hand.

Of course, those opinions were only in his mind. He grew a big smile of narcissistic joy.

Mordecai wasn't happy with the route this conversation was taking.

"Well then what are we supposed to do," the blue jay whined, "this is really important to us."

"For you maybe," Rigby groaned under his breath before huffing out a quick laugh. This was cut short when a fist made immediate contact with his shoulder, leaving his arm crippled for a moment, and his face twisted in pain.

"What did I do?"

"You're alive," Mordecai replied, "that's what you do."

"Hey that was mean! I don't do stuff like that to you!"

"Oh yeah? Let me count how many times Rigby the raccoon has caused grief for me," he finished as he started listing several more instances than Rigby was ever able to list the other day.

Benson didn't want to hear it though. Not again anyways. He had listened to their childish arguing too many times to take any sort of pity on them, and with the stuff they pulled yesterday, he really didn't want to hear the two idiots drone on and on and on. He groaned out loud, clutching the bridge of his nose, praying for something to come and strike him dead.

"Look," he began, "if you guys can get all your work done early, I might consider, and this is a BIG MIGHT, consider give you guys a few extra bucks to go work on your little project."

Mordecai's eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really," Benson answered, "but only if you two can get all of work done before lunch time. That's the deal. After that, you can take the rest of the day off and go do whatever it is you idiots do."

"Before lunch," Rigby moaned, "how do you expect us to get all that work done before then?"

Benson rolled his eyes.

"You don't even know what I want you to do yet," he said to Rigby.

The raccoon groaned something under his breath about his boss and returned to listening.

"Mordecai," Benson began, "I need you to mow the yard."

"What," Mordecai shot out, "but that'll take hours! How am I supposed to finish all that before noon?"

Benson smirked evilly. Somewhere deep in his gumball pit, he did on some occasions enjoy torturing them a bit.

"And when you're done with that," he continued, "come back here, get the weed whacker and take care of all the trees and around the house."

The birds jaw nearly hit the table. There was no way he was going to be able to finish all that in a matter of a few hours. Even with the use of caffeine it would take him a full day at the very least to mow the whole park.

Rigby moaned. If that was what Mordecai had to deal with, he just couldn't wait to hear what Benson had planned for him.

"What do you want me to do," Rigby asked, "fix the plumbing?"

Benson cocked a glassy eye brow.

"What? No! Why would I have you fix the plumbing?"

"Um…," Rigby said softly, shifting his eyes from side to side, "no reason."

Benson's face fell into his palm. Now he had something else to look into after they had left.

"No," he started again pulling something out from behind him. "I just need you to drop this letter off at the parks and recreation building downtown."

"What," Mordecai screamed.

"That's it," Rigby asked.

"That's it," Benson answered with a smile on his face.

Well that seems simple enough. All he had to do was walk downtown and drop off some stupid letter to a building. Then he had the whole day to hang out with Mordecai to do whatever.

"Well that's not fair," Mordecai complained, "why does he get to do something easy like that while I have to all the hard work?"

"Maybe I'm just Benson's favorite," Rigby said childishly with a smile on his face.

"No," Benson interrupted, "it's because I know this is something you can't possibly screw up."

Mordecai's annoyance suddenly changed as he laughed under his breath.

"Yeah," the blue jay teased, "not even Rigby could mess something like this up."

They were teasing him again. Rigby did not approve.

"STOP AGREEING WITH HIM," he screamed at his friend before snatching the letter from Benson, and jumping off the kitchen table. He skittered toward the back door with letter in hand, only stopping for a moment to turn around and point at both Mordecai and Benson, hoping to strike fear in their hearts. It didn't work.

Mordecai giggled before saying, "try not to get lost dude," in a playful manner.

The raccoon scoffed at the both of them and ran out the door.

Mordecai's attention suddenly shifted back to Benson. His joyful expression disappeared as he noticed Benson scowling at him.

"Get to work," he said sternly.

Mordecai gave his usual groan, got up from his chair, and followed his friend's suit heading out the back door to do his duties.

Pops sat back in his chair, oblivious to the whole situation at hand.

By "yard", Benson meant the whole park which was a behemoth in its own right. Nobody ever wanted to mow the thing. By the time the whole park had finally been cut down and looking snazzy, the parts that were mowed first had already started to grow back. Nothing in the lush green park ever stayed even, no matter how hard a person tried. Not to mention that nobody ever wanted to do the weed whacking. The trunks of the trees had been taken over by some sort of sentient plant life, and the house had ivy growing at its base.

He brought the push mower out from its sleeping hell in the garage and knelt down to start it. Pulling on the tug string, the machine sputtered a few times but failed to awaken. He groaned hoping that there wasn't anything wrong with the engine. The second and third pull though yielded the same results. The fourth tug though finally got the engine running, powering itself up after a winter of nonuse. The blue jay stood up, grabbed a handle of the mower with one hand, and put on a conveniently placed pair of radio access headphones on before heading out onto the park.

The day was surprisingly warmer than expected for a January morning. The forecast had expected high fifties to low sixties all week, so it helped that Mordecai didn't need to put any winter clothes on before rushing out.

Mordecai did not want to have to go through the hassle of doing all of this by noon, let alone having to do all of it by himself. He was still slightly mad a Benson for giving Rigby such an easy task. Still, he was happy that it was something the little raccoon could handle. Mordecai was trying to do all this to impress Margaret, and the last thing he wanted was Rigby running around screwing everything up like he so often does.

A good brisk pace kept the mower moving and doing its work, and with the exception of a time in which he had to refill the machine with gas, he found that he had finished his mowing almost ten till noon. He congratulated himself for the moment, only until he realized that he still had to weed the park afterwards.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Benson was in the middle of sweeping up the porch, and keeping the house in an overall tidy condition. Every so often he would look up and see Mordecai running around like a mad man trying to keep his chores finished for his promised prize. Benson had already decided to give the money to Mordecai anyways. It was his plan from the get go. Knowing full well of his feelings for Margaret, Benson found he could get a good days work out of his employee by simply exploiting his feelings just a little bit. Of course he would never do anything to hurt the boy, of course not. He was just content with helping the blue jay work towards his goal and keeping the park presentable.

Rigby was a different story. Benson knew as long as Rigby hung around Mordecai then the work would never be done. In his eyes, he believed Rigby was bringing Mordecai down, and couldn't understand why they were friends to begin with. Reversely though, he asked the same question about himself, Pops, and Skips and couldn't think of a proper answer.

Still, the only way he was ever going to get any work done was to separate them for a few hours. He didn't want to break the two apart. He just wanted to get the park looking good for the spring season coming up. The two only ever worked together on their chores when they were working toward the same thing and the look on Rigby's face every time Mordecai mentioned Margaret was a good tip off that they did not have the same goal in mind.

It was a clever plan really. Give Rigby a letter to send to the P&R building. It was as simple as that. Not to mention it was a letter that Pops had already dropped off to them the week before. Besides, Rigby wouldn't be able to deliver the letter anyways. Even if they did get the letter, the department would probably just wonder why they were sending the winter seasonal report twice and scrap the second copy.

"I'm done," Mordecai coughed as he walked up the front porch of the house.

Benson smiled at the exhausted bird and looked out at the park to judge his work.

"No bad," he said with a content smile on his face. "Not bad at all."

"Not like it matters," Mordecai replied. "It's past two anyways, so nothings gonna come of it."

Benson's smile widened as he reached into his pocket.

"I said by lunch time," Benson smirked, "not noon. I haven't had lunch yet."

Mordecai looked at Benson curiously, but smiled when he noticed his employer holding out thirty bucks, which he took greedily.

"Oooooooh," Mordecai screamed as he held his money high in the air triumphantly.

A thought crossed his mind suddenly.

"Where's Rigby," he asked.

"He hasn't shown back up yet," Benson groaned. "Knowing him, the job we thought he wouldn't screw up on he more than likely did screw up."

The gumball machine shrugged though, not really caring either way.

"His fault if he doesn't want the extra money," he finished.

Mordecai's thoughts suddenly turned to Rigby. He knew this was going to happen, he just knew it. His friend was given the simplest of tasks and he still was not able to complete it. He could have been downtown and back to the park in less than an hour, and on top of that, had enough time to help Mordecai with the lawn work.

Benson was right though. It was his fault if he didn't want some extra cash to use as he saw fit. Though, Mordecai was honestly hoping that his friend would use that money to help him get the stage set up. That was too much to ask though as the blue jay believed the raccoon didn't really care about anybody other than himself. And yet, there was still a pit in his stomach feeling bad for his friend and thinking that way. He couldn't help it. When you're friends with someone for so long it's hard to fault them for anything, no matter how pissed off you get.

"Who knows," Mordecai thought to himself, "maybe Rigby's on his way back right now."

_Roger Patterson Van - The Mountain Goats and Kaki King_

**Author's Notes**

It completely slipped my mind to put in my A/Ns why I chose the chapter titles. In case it hasn't become apparent to anyone yet, these chapter titles are actual songs. I recommend you listen to them when you get the chance. Even if you don't like them they're worth at least one listen. But anyways...

Also, I've decided to update the story every Monday. That way it gives me time to write, correct, and not feel rushed. At this point I'm up to Chpt. 4 written, so I'm a still ways to go.

_So Until Next Chapter…_

_Adieu…_


	3. So Much for the Afterglow

**Chapter 3**

**So Much for the Afterglow**

The task to deliver something as simple as a letter is just that: simple. Anyone would be able to do. Everyone except Rigby it seemed like.

The moment the raccoon had gotten into the city he couldn't help but be enthralled by all the lovely merchandise on sale in the various shops. Window shopping was always one of his favorite things to do, even if he couldn't afford anything in the shops. There was something about just standing there and imagining playing with that, or riding this, or watching that. He was an easily amused raccoon.

No money made it more difficult to actually be excited for something though. That's why he needed to get the letter delivered as soon as possible, even if said letter had already been delivered the week before hand. Even with the willpower of money looming over the raccoon's head, all those wonderful things on sale were just too tempting to pass up without taking a look at least.

Rigby found himself inside his usual haunt; a fairly run down used electronics store. All the great things were there for a growing man: TVs, videogames, movies, the works. He could just spend hours looking through all the titles, all the clear pictures, all the game systems. Unfortunately for him though, hours did pass. He didn't notice until he had past some clocks only to find that it was passed two.

He panicked and ran out the entrance to the store full speed ahead toward the down town area, sprinting as fast as he could to the park and recreations building. He had been there once with the whole group in order to explain the situation with the park bursting into flames and some children being surrounded by fire, so he knew the easiest way to get there in a hurry.

When he finally arrived at the building though, it was locked. His panic grew as he grabed a hold of the entrance handle and pulled on it as hard as he could. It was a weekday, they had to be open. He searched around the front for a letter drop. Nothing. He was at wits end when he noticed something written on a piece of paper on the side of the building.

_The Parks and Recreations Department is closed today, January 8__th__, in honor of Margarita Tuesday and will be open again tomorrow, January 9th. See ya at the bar people!_

"Are you kidding me," Rigby screamed banging on the door.

There must be someone home. He had to drop off this letter or else he wouldn't get any money. He banged harder, screaming at the top of his lungs, hoping someone would hear him. He eventually found some garbage cans on the side of the street and proceeded to pelt the front door with them.

This wasn't good. If he couldn't deliver the letter, then he wouldn't get any money. If he didn't get any money, then he wouldn't be able to afford something at the store he was at. If he couldn't get something at that store, he wouldn't be able to convince Mordecai to hang with him, thus increasing the chances of the bird hanging out with Margaret. Rigby did not want that.

He had to think of something quick. Something that'll prove to Benson that the letter was dropped off safely, and that there were no screw ups.

He suddenly had a brilliant idea. All he had to do was just find a way inside the building, drop it off in the lobby, and everything would work out just fine. Now he just needed to find a way inside. Another brilliant plan! He could just break one of the windows, climb inside, drop the letter off on the front desk, and head on home with no repercussions.

Benson and Mordecai arrived at the police station a few hours later to bail the raccoon out. Funny how karma tends to work.

"What were you thinking," Benson screamed, gumballs bright red.

"I was just trying to deliver the letter like you said," Rigby argued, "It's your fault for sending me in the first place."

Mordecai groaned. "Dude, how is it Benson's fault. You're the one that broke into a government building, activated the alarm, and had to deal with police, all to drop off a stupid letter."

Rigby scoffed at the both of them. "I don't see what the big deal was."

"Rigby," Mordecai argued, "they thought you were an eco-terrorist or something. It's not like it's the first time they've tried abducting people from there before."

"Well how was I supposed to know that?"

"It was all over the news, bro! Remember? They made a big deal about! There was a huge stand off with the kidnappers at the park! We couldn't leave the house for three days."

"And was that MY fault?"

Benson couldn't take the bickering. "SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!"

He suddenly turned his attention to Rigby and pointed directly at him. "And you! If a building is closed for the day you don't break in and make me have to pay for the damages and police costs!"

Rigby pressed his lips together and folded his arms in defiance.

"Well at least it's done," he whined. "Can I have my money now?"

Benson busted out laughing. He couldn't believe the raccoon just had the gall to ask him that.

"What's so funny," Rigby asked.

"Rigby," Benson started, "I knew today was Margarita Tuesday. They called me and asked me to come get drunk with them."

Rigby and Mordecai exchanged glances at the thought of a drunken Benson. They would like to see that one of these days.

"I was testing you to see if you would actually get the job done right. You didn't."

"What," Rigby complained, "how can I get the job done if nobody was there to drop that thing off to?"

Benson groaned again. This raccoon was going to give him ulcers.

"You should have just come back," Benson explained, "given me the letter, and explained the building was closed because of a holiday!"

Rigby didn't add anything on to that.

"I was trying to see if you could get something like this done. You didn't so no money!"

Mordecai was keeping his mouth shut. He knew better than to open his mouth whenever Benson was on a tirade.

"In fact," Benson continued, "I think you and I should have a serious talk when we get back to the house."

A talk? That didn't sound good to either one of them. A talk is usually the warning that's given before getting fired, or worse, the talk could be about actually getting fired.

Nobody said anything the whole way back to the house.

Mordecai was instructed to stay away from Rigby until Benson was finished chewing him out. He essentially threw the blue jay out of the house with nowhere to go for a few hours while Benson let his stress and anger unload onto the raccoon.

He spent the good portion of his time away from the park at a home maintenance store, looking at the various tools and materials he could use to fix the stage at the coffee shop. Afterwards, he decided to spend the rest of the time going to said coffee shop and hanging out with Margaret. At least that's what he wanted to do anyways, but as it turns out, she had the day off and wasn't in. He spent whatever time he had left looking at the rubble in the coffee shop, imagining what it's all going to look like.

When he eventually did make it back to the house, he found it dark and empty. Benson had apparently taken up the P&R offer of celebrating Margarita Tuesday with them after all and had left for the night. The blue jay didn't feel hungry, so he decided to skip the food and head on straight to bed. It was fairly late anyways, and the work from earlier had exhausted him. He made his way up the stairs to the second floor and made a beeline for his room.

Upon entering the darkened room, he noticed Rigby wasn't on his trampoline bed. Looking around the room he tried to see if he had just fallen on the floor or was somewhere else. Whatever small amount of light came into the room from the window shined down on a small lump on Mordecai's bed.

Rigby had put himself under the covers and refused to come out. Mordecai knew something was up. He sat himself on the bed next to the covered lump and look at it kindly.

"Hey buddy," he said in a cool soft voice. "What's the matter?"

No sound came from the lump.

"C'mon man," Mordecai responded, "you can tell me anything. Hello?"

He prodded the lump with his feathered finger expecting to get a groan or something, only to coming back with nothing. He then put his hand on the little bump and pushed it. Still nothing came from the bed.

"Don't be so melodramatic dude," Mordecai said annoyed standing up from the bed. With that he grabbed the covers from the bed and pulled them off in a single tug.

Expecting to find Rigby under all the clutter, he found that he had been talking to a pillow the whole time. His beak blushed red slightly in embarrassment. Not like anybody saw it though.

"I'm down here," a voice from down below muttered.

Confused, Mordecai looked towards the floor. He knelt down to peek underneath his bed to see what was going on.

Rigby lay on the hard wood, curled up in a ball, with a serious look on his face. He was staring into nothing hoping to find something there. Instead all he got was a trampoline and dresser drawer.

"Benson thinks I can't do anything," he continued. "Says I'm a bad influence for the rest of the staff, and that if I don't get my act together, the next time something like this happens he's firing me."

Mordecai looked at the poor little raccoon with friendly eyes.

"Dude," he started, "you sooooo can do stuff!"

Rigby's glance shifted to his friend.

"Yeah," Mordecai went on, "you're great at wasting time!"

The blue jay laughed, trying his best to get his friend's mood to change. It didn't work.

Rigby looked at him with that same serious look on his face.

"C'mon Rigby, I was only kidding with ya. You shouldn't take everything Benson says so seriously."

"Yeah, well," Rigby started, "he blames me for everything bad that's happening around here, like I'm the only reason all the bad stuffs been going on."

"It's not ALL your fault. I've screwed up a few times too you know."

"I told Benson that, and he was all like, 'at least Mordecai knows how to do his job,' and I was like, 'I know how to do my job,' and then he was like, 'no you don't! You're stupid, and lazy, and don't know how to do anything, and worthless, and… and…'"

He went silent for a moment again. Rigby found himself deep in thought and his serious look was changing to a more melancholy one.

"Am I a screw up," he finally asked Mordecai.

Mordecai didn't answer at first, but instead crawled under the bed with Rigby to get on eye level with him. He scooted as close to the raccoon as he could without touching him.

"Dude," he began, "don't take everything Benson says so seriously. He's just angry cause he's got a infinite case of blue gumballs, you know."

Rigby still didn't like it. "He's only like that around us."

"True," Mordecai added, "but that just means that whatever he says to you applies to me too. So I guess that means we're both lazy, good for nothing workers, huh."

Rigby still wasn't convinced though. He still felt as worthless as Benson described.

"Hey," the raccoon spoke, scooting closer to Mordecai. He tilted his head up so that his nose wouldn't hit his friend's chest, trying to get comfortable, his arms suddenly wrapping around his friend.

"Can I have a hug," he asked. A rather funny question since he was already giving his friend one.

The blue jay rolled his eyes and returned the embrace.

"Sure," he answered contently, "but don't make a habit of it."

Things weren't really going the way Rigby wanted them to lately. He had gotten roped into some scheme with his friend about a girl he cared nothing about, to fix some stupid stage that he also cared nothing about, and he had been yelled at by his boss for incompetence and, in Rigby's eyes, entrapment, though he really didn't know the meaning of the actual word.

Still, right now, at this very moment, he found that as long as he's got his friend and this embrace, he'll be just fine.

_So Much for the Afterglow - Everclear_

**Author's Notes**

I really don't have a lot to say for this chapter. It's pretty straight forward and is really only a reminder of the duo's friendship and care for each other. I keep forgetting how hard it is to stretch a story into 3000 words a chapter, which is the minimum I'm shooting for. Of course this chapter is actually much shorter than that. I know chapters can be shorter and get a lot more across too, but I'm a stubborn writer. Go fig...

_So Until next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	4. Blackout City

**Chapter 4**

**Blackout City**

A couple of weeks pass by after Benson's little talk with Rigby. Not like it mattered much, as the little raccoon still slacked off, half-assed, and allowed his attention to be drawn elsewhere.

Mordecai was the reverse, focusing more and more on his job to try and work his way into Margaret's heart. Though, in order to make sure Rigby wouldn't get himself fired or in big trouble, he ended up having to watch the mammal like a hawk, which created an incredible amount of hilarious adventures that unfortunately can only be discussed at a later date.

"Why do they have to make a hundred different types of hammers," Margaret asked scoping out the selection of tools laid out in front of her.

Sunday was usually a good day for the three of them (Mordecai, Margaret, and Rigby) for a plethora of reasons: The first being that they all had the day off so it was much easier to get together and discuss the working of the stage, whether Rigby liked it or not. The other reason was also so that Mordecai could hang out with Margaret outside of both their work, once again, whether Rigby liked it or not.

Today the group had decided to visit various hardware shops in order to get some extra tools and supplies to finish up the stage. The wide variety of tools and materials made it extremely difficult to pinpoint what they all needed exactly. Not to mention even with the groups combined money, they could barely afford even the most moderately priced of equipment. Their bank accounts had already started to suffer after only a few days of working.

"The cheapest hammer here is," the red robin continued while squinting her eyes at the dangling price tag of a hammer, "a little over fifteen dollars."

Mordecai glanced over at her, taking his attention away from nails and screwdrivers, to confirm what she had just said.

"Geez," he said, "it's just a hammer. You use it to hit things with, that's all."

"I know," she continued, "that's just so high for a piece of metal."

Margaret sighed deeply and put the hammer back.

Everything in the store looked so pricey. A single nail cost $1.25, while some wood working glue was $2.75. Mordecai and Rigby's pay was small already with living expenses and whatever they destroyed taken out, while Margaret's paycheck was usually low simply for working as a coffee waitress.

She rubbed the bridge of her beak, trying to think of some other way to get everything they needed and fix the stage without it being too cost effective. The stage had already been setup thanks to the weeks of working they put into it, but there were still some issues that needed to be worked out before it could be considered completed.

Suddenly a flash of brown appeared from behind the aisle, releasing a terrible scream, brandishing what appeared to be a sword and an axe. Actually, it was just a hammer and a screwdriver, but to Rigby, the skies the limit when it comes to his imagination. Tied across his neck was an oil rag he had found to act as a bandana.

Margaret and Mordecai looked on in stunning fascination as the raccoon performed various, badly done choreography with his equipment. Pulling the hammer down to the ground, slashing and stabbing with the screwdriver, with Rigby doing it all with a great big death defying smile on his face.

Mordecai froze in his tracks. His best friend was acting like a child again in public. Not just acting like a child, but doing it in front of his crush. He wanted to say something, anything, to try and stop the little raccoon from continuing, but couldn't get the courage to open his mouth and say anything. Embarrassment was keeping him that way.

"So are you supposed to be a knight or something," Margaret finally asks.

Rigby stopped for a moment, turning his attention to the female with a stern powerful look on his face, and nodded.

She bust out laughing, having a difficult time trying to keep it in.

Mordecai's feathers were beginning to turn white in embarrassment.

"Well then," she added, "if you are going to be the knight, then I should be the poor damsel in distress, eh?"

She quickly went over to Rigby and untied his bandana before taking it from him. He protested at first, but was silenced as the red bird held up her hand to him and winked. She quickly tied the oil rag on top of her head, and turned to Mordecai.

"What do you think," she asked, "do I look like a princess?"

Truth be told, she looked nothing like a princess with that rag on her head, closer to a peasant woman actually. In Mordecai's eyes however, she was always a princess, cheesy as it sounds.

"Um…," was the only thing he was able to get out.

She quickly ran up to him, meeting him eye to eye.

"You can be the dragon, Mordecai," she says with a smile on her face. "Here, let me see your hands."

She then turns her back to Mordecai, grabs his hands, and wraps them around her playfully.

"Help me sir knight," she screams loudly in Rigby's general direction.

Mordecai's frozen state stiffens more. He doesn't know what to do. He just suddenly became the "dragon" and had his arms wrapped around Margaret in a sort of pseudo hug. There was already sweat beginning to form underneath his feathers, and he could feel a lump in his throat climbing higher and higher.

Rigby just kind of stood there with his knightly expression gone. In his eyes, Margaret was ruining the image he had going. He saw himself as a black knight coming to fight with the white knight IE Mordecai in a great battle to the death. Now the red robin had to come along and screw everything up.

She noticed Rigby's change in expression.

"Oh c'mon sir knight," she begged, "come and save me!"

Rigby didn't want to play along.

Mordecai, however, found that the stress of having Margaret this close to him was just too much to handle. Sure it felt nice (the blush across his beak seem to say so), she was warm too, and it was one of the things he always wanted to do, but it was just too much. He pushed Margaret away from in an instant.

"Ah, oh," he play groaned as he threw his arms into the air, "it hurts so much! Rigby, your death glare has defeated me! Ah, oh!"

Margaret raised in eyebrow, confused by the sudden surrender, but chose not to look a gift horse in the mouth. She smiled contently and turned her attention back to Rigby.

"Thank you sir knight," she said, "you have slain the dragon with your evil death gaze!"

Rigby, also not wanting to look down on a good thing, decided to milk it.

"Yeah," he screamed, "take that Mordecai dragon! I'm the best knight there ever was!"

Mordecai rolled his eyes at his friend, but was happy that he was at least trying to get along with Margaret. Usually, he just pretends she's not there or only barely acknowledges her existence.

After hearing Rigby's triumphant victory cry, the red robin slowly walked over to him and knelt down to meet his height.

"Yes you are," she said in a sensual, seductive tone.

Just then, she moved her head over to his cheek, opened her beak, and flicked her tongue across him instantly.

Rigby jumped in terror, while Mordecai froze into another stupor.

"Wha… what was," Rigby tried to squeak out.

"Oh sorry," Margaret said, taken aback. "I was just trying to give you a little play kiss like a princess usually does."

"That wasn't a kiss," Rigby argued, "that was your tongue!"

"Well it is from a bird. We don't have lips, so we gotta find our own way to do it."

"Well, don't do it again. That was just too weird."

Margaret laughed. "Slasher doesn't seem to mind."

She turned her head to Mordecai for support. Being a bird as well, he should be able to understand.

"You don't think it's weird, right Mordecai?"

Mordecai was still frozen. His best friend had just gotten a kiss from his dream girl, and he didn't even enjoy it. He was having trouble trying to figure out if he was jealous or just plain angry at his raccoon friend.

"Is he okay," Margaret asked Rigby.

Rigby just sighed to himself, throwing his "weapons" to the ground and looking exasperated.

After that little ordeal, the group decided to head back to the coffee shop with new tools and supplies with them, ready to continue working on their project. The place was surprisingly slow for a Sunday, only warranting a single clerk at the counter who instinctively waved at Margaret as she came in through the door, a raccoon and blue jay in tow.

A few weeks of work had brought them progress. The stage was no longer just rubble, but had actually been built about a foot above the ground. Since they couldn't afford any sort of stone or marble to use, wood had to be a close second. The stage had originally been built once before the previous week, but when Mordecai fell through the center of it, they found that they had forgotten to install one very important thing. The new stage thankfully was made with supports underneath and was sturdy enough to hold Skips, after asking him to come in on his day off and try to stand on it. It was the best review of the stage thus far calling it, "alright."

Most of the work had ended up being between Margaret and Mordecai, with Rigby either slacking off or doing little fetch quests for the two of them. He had ended up being more of a nuisance than a help. Margaret, however, didn't seem to mind, and short of a few instances of the two of them getting into arguments, it seemed alright. Mordecai did not like that his friend wasn't making an attempt to help them build, though.

Night came swiftly, and the group had decided to do the one thing they had been waiting to do since they actually started working on the stage. Even Rigby was curious to see how it was going to work out. The only problem was…

"We have no speakers," Mordecai whined looking at the empty stage.

It was true. There were no speakers or anything electrical on the stage. They had bought a cheap microphone and a stand to accompany it, but no speakers, or sound system, or anything. The stage was pretty much useless then if it couldn't be used for anything. Margaret brought up stand up comedy, but the peanut gallery booed that idea in a heartbeat.

"This stage is gonna be all about rock," Mordecai smirked.

"Yeah," Rigby yelled, "rock on!"

The raccoon then proceeded to jump up on the stage, grab the microphone stand and belt out his terrible voice into the receiving end of the microphone.

Mordecai was busting out laughing, egging his friend on in support, while Margaret and her co-worker to the side were looking on in sheer horror. They were embarrassed for the two of them.

It was surprising that Mordecai would support his friend playing around like this when only hours earlier he was embarrassed for his knight in shining armor act.

"Hey guy," Margaret asked turning to her nameless, uninteresting, and unimportant co-worker, "don't we have a speaker or something in the storage room upstairs?"

She had completely forgotten about those.

"I don't think it works," he answered. "They've been there ever since before even I started working here. Besides, the boss said never to use them, cause they were, and I quote, 'bad news'."

Her co-worker shrugged as he began to brew a cup of coffee for a customer.

The red robin returned her attention to the stage. Mordecai had taken upon himself to jump up on the stage and begin to rock out with his friend. It was an endearing sight to say the least. She decided then.

"Worth a shot," Margaret shrugged still watching her friends make fools of them selves on stage.

The upstairs attic of the building was used as a storage room for the coffee shop and the two buildings that sit next door to the shop. It didn't help that you had to go outside to actually get to it. The grey and black room sit dormant carrying with it all the relics of the past: old standard definition TVs, streamers, out of style coffee mugs, a jukebox, dead potted plants, a skeleton with an afro wig, and in the corner of the room, a dusty worn out eighties style speaker.

It was fairly big, standing about two feet off the ground and stretching about the same length wise. Dust and cob webs had collected themselves around the cabinet itself, sticking tightly to the front cloth. A few tears had made themselves apparent over the years, revealing the innards of the device.

"Hope you work," Margaret remarked as she picked the dusty old thing from off the ground.

Back downstairs, Mordecai and Rigby had just finished belting out their vocal solos just as their friend was coming down the stairs.

The whole coffee shop had emptied out from their performance, and Margaret's co-worker had take to stuffing his ears shut with his fingers. However much of the song she heard, she was glad she had left to seek out the speaker.

After thanking the audience for "their love", Mordecai noticed his crush had come back into the room with a new toy.

"Hey," he said excited, "you got some speakers!"

Rigby stopped jumping around the stage to see what she had brought with her.

"Duuuuuude," Mordecai added with awe in his eyes, "look at them!"

The raccoon jumped off the stage and approached the red robin with her package for evaluation. He saw the webs, the dust, and the tears, and came to an astounding conclusion.

"Bro," he said with an astonished smile on his face, "these things are totally retro!"

"Awesome," Mordecai replied as he jumped off the stage. "Good find Margaret."

She smiled contently and proceeded to walk toward the direction of the stage.

"They were in the storage room upstairs," she explained, sitting the speakers down next to an outlet. "I don't know why our boss had a problem with them."

She then grabbed the head of the plug cord and held it close to you outlet.

"You all ready," she asked the two boys.

They nodded happily, excited to hear what the speakers would sound like after two decades of no power.

The red robin smiled with them and jammed the plug into the outlet.

A sudden flash of white and yellow filled the room. Sparks began to flood out of the outlet as Margaret jumped up and back from the scene. The lights of the coffee shop began to flicker repeatedly drowning everyone in flashes of darkness and brightness. An overhead light bulb burst suddenly causing the glass pieces to fall on a nearby table. An unearthly scream suddenly poured from the speakers, sounding of something horrific and terrifying. Finally, the power surged and it all went dark. The sparks no longer danced, and the lights fell to blackness. There was a brief pause before anyone said anything.

"Is everyone okay," Margaret asked to anyone in the pitch black room.

There were some groans from two voices, and her co-worker just sighed a "told you so," but it appeared that everyone was alright. Thankfully, Mordecai and Rigby's song performance had emptied the coffee house, so no one was hurt, let alone there.

The red robin couldn't see an inch in front of her face. Something was wrong, it shouldn't be THIS dark.

A flicker of light suddenly, and the lights turned themselves back on.

"Well that was fun," Mordecai said sarcastically.

Rigby had a great big smile on his face though. "That was awesome! Did you see the sparks and how they flew everywhere, and the lights, and… and… and the scream! That was so cool!"

Other than that, it seemed like everything was just fine. The speaker apparently didn't burst into flames, the coffee shop wasn't on fire, and the lights came back on, so everything seemed to have worked out.

Margaret suddenly realized that the speaker was still plugged in. She jumped back up from the ground and dashed over to the outlet the machine was plugged into. She grasped the head of it and pulled away immediately. Fire, burning fire. Her wing had ignited.

She screamed at the top of her lungs and began to panic.

"Margaret," Mordecai screamed in reaction.

He had to think fast. Realizing that there was a fire extinguisher located behind the counter, he rushed over to it, grabbing the item from down below, dashed back to the panicked female, and let loose a barrage of fire retardant puffs all over her. She was out in an instant.

Margaret took a moment to breath, shaking to the brim in shock. Looking over herself, she found that the fire had only surrounded her feathers and failed to attach itself to her skin. She took one last breath of relief and observed the rest of the survivors around her and came to a startling conclusion.

"That plug was hot," she said so matter of factly.

It was the only thing she knew she could spit out. Truthfully, she wanted to scream and spit out curses at an astronomical level, but with held that.

A pair of gloves from the tool kit saved them the trouble of igniting something else as they pulled the plug from its cave and let it sit in a cup of ice to cool down. None of them really said anything for a few moments after that, too afraid to state the obvious, and too afraid to say something helpful.

"I think it should be fine there for the night," the co-worker said removing his apron. "I'm going home. This has been too much excitement for one night."

He disappeared into a back room for a few minutes, returning later in civilian attire. Margaret was kind enough to wave goodbye to him as he stepped out the door.

The feathered female then walked right over to Mordecai, and quickly flicked her tongue along his cheek, giving him the same bird kiss she had given Rigby earlier.

"Thank you," she whispered to him.

Mordecai's beak grew bright red. He finally got what he had been waiting for, and while it was more of a friend kiss than anything, it was still something.

The door to the coffee shop suddenly opened again, and Margaret's co-worker appeared from out of the darkness behind it. This was odd, considering there was actually a street light right above the entrance outside. Why was it so dark?

"The city's blacked out."

The three remaining on lookers glanced at each other before running out the door.

It was true. The lights of the city had all gone out. The streetlights above them showed nothing, and the windows of all the buildings were dark. There was nothing but blackness to the left and right of them. And yet behind them, the coffee shop was bright as day: the TV could turn on, the coffee machines were running. Yes the overhead lights flickered slightly, but they were still in working condition and operating. Something definitely was not right.

"Did we do that," the red robin asked the rest of them.

Back inside the coffee shop, a few small sparks fluttered around the unplugged speaker. The sound of static began to quietly come out of it. It was soft at first, but later audible to anyone inside the shop. Everyone was outside though, so how could they hear it?

Something coherent suddenly spoke through the speaker.

"…play?"

And then there was silence.

_Blackout City - Anamanaguchi_

**Author's Notes**

Sooooooo... I wrote the kiss scenes in a sort of realistic matter to go along with the fact that Margaret is a bird and has no lips, and yet I'm writing fanfiction based off a show that is anything but regular and includes crap that breaks the rules all the time. I don't know what I was thinking, but I think it adds a sort of light depth of comedy to it. Or not. I don't know. What do you all think?

This chapter went through the proof blender a few times and I still feel like I might have messed something up with the writing, so I apologize for any errors you may find along the way.

Also, the next chapter is HUGE! Look forward to it!

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	5. Song Pong

**Chapter 5**

**Song Pong**

Candle light filled the park house, softly illuminating the rooms in an orange glow. A smell of pine and orange lingered in the air, blazoned by scented candles and the small torch lit on top of them.

"When is this stupid blackout supposed to end," Benson complained.

Three days had passed since the whole city had gone under electronic arrest. The city officials had become stupefied as to what had happened to their cities electrical grid. Odd considering it was working just fine a few days earlier. All the grids at the power plant just stopped working. There was nothing wrong with them; no short outs, no over loading, no nothing.

The real problem, however, wasn't as much as the electricity in the city was completely out, but that everything electronically based was inactive. Anything that involved a battery, or solar power, or anything that used another source of external energy had refused to work. This was particularly perplexing to the police and elected politicians, trying to keep order in the city… and failing.

"I heard that there was another riot downtown," Benson continued. "It's not even safe to go outside anymore."

The gumball machine found himself sitting in his chair in the living room, looking into the heart of a candle flame, trying to find some way to pass the time. He had read most of the books in the house, and cleaned every nook and cranny there was. The night was beginning to take its toll on him. It was too early for bed, but too late to do anything strenuous. He had already exhausted himself playing quartz, parchment, and shears with Pops. Win or lose, the lollipop man would giggle with delight and request to play again. Benson could handle it for about a half an hour before he started to lose it.

"Sounds terribly adventurous," Pops replied sitting on the couch across from his friend. "May we go-"

"No, Pops," Benson snapped back. "What did I just say?"

"I know," Pops said a little down, "but it's so dreadfully boring here."

Benson couldn't argue with that. Out of the bunch of them, Skips was the only one who seemed to be in his element. With the exception of the golf cart and a few other essential products (phones, oven, and a clock), he really never saw the yeti use electronic equipment. In fact the man was so in his element, he was sitting on the steps outside, protecting the house from any looters or unwelcome guests. Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost had gone missing mysteriously during the whole incident, so it was difficult to know what was going on with them, and Pops had found himself hanging around Benson the whole time. That left the last two resident of the house.

They had left earlier for the coffee shop, saying that it was, "the only interesting place to go to right now", which wasn't far from the truth. It was the only place in the whole city that still had electricity. No one knew quite why, really. Some say it was luck, some say that it's on a different grid than the others. Of course this was later proven false, but it was still an interesting case to say the least.

Benson rested his head on his hand, tapping the plexiglass with his fingers. "I'll bet you money they're responsible for this."

"You're still concerned about that, Benson," Pops asked looking slightly concerned.

"Think about it," the gumball machine remarked, "the entire city's power supply, and everything else electrical goes down, and yet the coffee shop, the one place THEY are trying to save, is the only place that still has any working power. Don't you find that a little suspicious, Pops?"

Pops already knew this. Benson had been spouting the same theory for the past 72 hours upon hearing about the coffee shop being the only powered building left in the city. While this was all very plausible and, in fact, correct, Pops with his naïve sunny disposition just couldn't agree with it. He had put far too much trust in the blue jay and raccoon and refused to let up on that.

"Well," Pops began, "if it is their fault, then maybe they're trying to fix it. Those two know how to make a smashing success after a miserable mistake."

"Hmmm," Benson groaned unconvinced.

He knew that most of the time, the two of them ended up solving everything by accident. Nothing is ever predetermined with them, and that's what made them so dangerous; Rigby especially.

The candy filled man sighed again, before noticing Pops patting the seat next to him.

Benson gave a small smile before getting up from his chair and sitting back down next to Pops. The naïve man from Lolliland then gave a toothy grin at the gumball machine before turning his attention back to the burning candle light.

"This is ripping though," he said happily.

Benson grinned, looking at the heart of the flame. "It's not bad, Pops. It's not bad."

Meanwhile, at the coffee shop…

"What," screamed an angry patron as he was being pushed out the door, "you gotta be kidding me! It's only eight o'clock!"

"I'm sorry sir," Margaret said trying hard to push a rather large and overweight man out the door, "but we have to close early tonight to clean up."

"Well that's no excuse! Isn't it your job to serve patrons like me! Isn't the customer always right?"

"Sir, I apologize again," she added, "but it's just me here tonight, and I need to get this place cleaned up before opening again tomorrow."

"But-"

Margaret then put all of her footing into pushing the man out of the door, pulling it shut, and locking it just as quickly. The man outside began mouthing some very unflattering things to her, but with the past few days that she and her co-workers have had, she couldn't give a crap. She looked over the guard railing of the stairs next to the entrance to survey the damage.

The place was in ruins, and had been like that the past three days. When it had become apparent to the population of the city that the coffee shop was the only refuge for television, processed food, and wifi, the place had exploded with business. The shop had pulled in more money in the past three days than it had in the whole year. They had begun to find themselves running low on cheap food and expensive coffee flavored beverages. Only a few gallon buckets of the brew were left unopened, and it wasn't going to last them past the following morning. And the damage, the insane, horrible, and despicable damage the shop had taken on: mugs everywhere, food and coffee stains all over the floor, chairs squeezed together to accommodate more people, and a small visible crack on their TV that had been formed when an angry sports fan threw his cup of coffee at the screen, nicking it slightly.

Several of her co-workers had gone home earlier, complaining about thoughts of murder suicide acts, and several cases of a disgruntled persona. She was the only one there now. Tending to a flock of hungry, thirsty, and most importantly, angry customers who wanted their sandwich and coffee now and had no time to wait, even though they were content with getting their food and staying to watch whatever was on the television.

The stage had found no use. It sat there for the past few days as nothing more than something for customers to sit on. Margaret had not gotten around to moving the malfunctioning speaker back into storage and simply pushed it into the far corner of the stage for the time being.

"What a waste," she thought looking at it.

Observing everything else around her, she untied her apron, and threw it over the railing. After which she let out a blood curdling scream, and proceeding to curse repeatedly quite audibly for the whole room to hear.

"You okay," a voice came from bottom of the stairs.

Margaret looked below her to see Mordecai standing there with Rigby at his feet. She covered up her anxiety with a smile and proceeded to walk down the stone steps.

"I'm fine," she said hoarsely, "just tired and angry."

The red robin sighed deeply and began to try and correct her appearance after a full day of hell. Her feathers were completely ruffled, employee outfit was covered in dirt and who knows what, her legs had some bruises forming from being down on her knees trying to clean up large messes. She did her best to brush herself off of whatever she could, trying to look somewhat presentable to her friends. Feeling something out of place on her head, she plucked out a feather and observed it. Her eyes widened as she let of a soft whimper looking at a feather laced with crimson and small traces of silver.

"Grey," she muttered under her breath.

She let it out of her grasp, letting it float to the ground.

"I need to sit down," she cooed.

Mordecai then gently grabbed her by the arm and led her to a table.

"Rigby," he started, "could you take care of this mess here."

The bird pointed to the top of a table covered in half eaten food and discarded coffee cups. The raccoon then rolled his eyes and jumped up onto the table. Instead of simply picking everything up though, he threw his arm clear across the top, spilling everything onto the floor as several large thuds hit the ground.

"Dude," Mordecai disapproved.

Margaret brought her hand up to Mordecai to calm him.

"No, no," she said taking a deep breath, "it's fine. Thank you Rigby."

She sat down in a nearby chair, took another deep breath, and slammed her head down onto the table.

"I'm just gonna sit like this for a while. You guys don't mind, right?"

Mordecai smiled and put his hand on her shoulder, "it's cool with us, Margaret. We'll take care of the cleaning while you rest."

"We'll," Rigby questioned with a grimace on his face.

"Yes Rigby. We'll."

"Why do I have to help," the raccoon whined, "I don't work here! I don't wanna work here."

The blue jay rolled his eyes at his friend in annoyance before continuing.

"Dude, we come here all the time, it's the least we can do. Plus, you saw how busy she was today, and yesterday, and the day before that."

Rigby crossed his arms and huffed at his friend.

"Rigby," Margaret whispered audibly with her face still on the table, "it would mean a lot to me if you could help a little bit. I just need a couple of minutes to rest, and then I'll help you with everything else."

He sighed in surrender after listening to her.

"Fine."

The blue bird smiled looking at his friend. "Good call, man."

Mordecai, taking up the role as leader while Margaret was incapacitated, assigned Rigby to take care of the floor while he was busy working on the tables and the counter. Not really the job the raccoon had in mind, but Mordecai argued that this was because he was so close to floor and wouldn't have to bend over to pick everything up. It wasn't the best time in the world, but it was doing something nice, even for someone who you really don't give heads or tails about.

Thinking about it, Rigby had never really given any thought to Margaret. She was just there, that's it. He didn't have anything against, but also didn't particularly like her either. The red robin was simply another faceless person in the small raccoon's life. Another drop in the bucket to a list of people he really didn't want to know.

He honestly couldn't tell what Mordecai found so interesting about her. There was no understanding as to why his best friend would fawn over her, trying to get her attention, to even acknowledge that he was a viable suitor. She was stuck in her own world, and he was doing his best to try and get in.

Much like Margaret's oblivious hold onto Mordecai, he found that these food stains on the ground were just as annoying to remove.

"…_play…"_

The raccoon's ears perked up. He just heard it. At least he was sure that he heard something.

"Really Rigby," Mordecai answered, "you wanna play right now? This place isn't nearly clean enough!"

"I didn't say anything," Rigby replied, mildly confused.

"Dude, I just heard you say that you wanted to play. Nobody else in this room has the brain to want to play in this situation right now."

"…_I do…"_

Mordecai heard it that time as well. He froze, taking a look around the room. That wasn't Rigby's voice. It was too high pitched and broken.

Margaret picked her head up from the table to look around the room. Someone just said something.

"Hello," she asked the room, "is anybody there?"

"…_wake…me…?"_

"Umm," she tried to answer. "We're closed right now, but if you want to come back tomorrow, we're open again at se-"

A sudden string of electricity bounced off her arm, as she let out a surprised gasp jumping from out of her chair and away from the table.

The three of them glanced around the room, trying to look for an answer. Rigby looked under the tables, and found nothing but garbage and stains. Mordecai looked above on the ceiling and windows, but only observed hand prints and asbestos. Margaret made a mad dash to kitchen, checking every cabinet and drawer in the room, but only turned up with dirty pans and plates.

"…_form…?"_

Another string of electricity slowly crawled across another table, and then another, and another. Several more climbed up the walls, tearing as the paint, creating a light static sound. The lights flickered in various ways, each one flashing at a different time than the others. The appliances behind the counter began to squirm and vibrate, trying to break free of their inanimate state.

The three confused animals ran toward each other, trying to stay as a group, not wanting to split apart. Something wrong was going on in the little coffee shop. Bolts and strands of electricity danced contently, shooting off booming and shocking sounds. It was everywhere. And that voice…

"…_play…," _it moaned playfully coming from the direction of the stage.

They all looked toward it. The speaker. The voice was coming directly from the speaker. It repeated it again, only getting more flustered this time.

"…_play…!"_

"We should go," Rigby whispered to the both them.

They both agreed, and made their way quickly towards the door, but a bolt of lightning struck the stairs as they tried to make their exit, knocking them back, and keeping them from their escape. Now officially terrified, the three had no choice but to look toward the source again. The speaker had begun to shake uncontrollably, bouncing around the stage with no pattern in mind.

"_PLAY," _it screamed out loud for the world to hear.

And then a flash of light as something burst forth from the speaker. A long and very large string of lightning danced on the stage, screaming as loud as it possibly could. They all covered their ears, doing their best to shield themselves from that terrible and haunting sound. Several nearby coffee mugs shattered from the screech, causing pieces of ceramic to fly everywhere.

"_Form… can't do… PLAY!"_

Rigby blinked, and it was upon him in an instant. It let loose a reverberating boom, causing Margaret to fly against the stairs, and Mordecai to be thrown across the room. The thing circled the raccoon repeatedly trying to size him up.

"…_you? Brain… to play?"_

The striped tail mammal didn't want to answer and jumped away. He ran around the room in a circle, doing his best to try and escape the creature, but every time he turned around, it was always at his tail. Rigby tried to get out through the window, but was caught and thrown onto a table. He tried the stairs and out the door again, climbing over the confused and terrified Margaret in the process, but was dragged kicking and screaming away from this route. He then tried the kitchen. There had to be a back way out of there, right? The thing shot him to the ceiling and brought him back to the lobby upside down and incredibly annoyed.

The tendrils of electricity then grabbed him by the neck and pulled him down onto the floor as fast as a bullet. All the air was knocked out of the little raccoon, and his vision disconnected for a moment. He found himself lost in his head, a thousand thoughts a second, with the same realization coming back to him: "I'm going to die."

"…_die…? Not yet… just want… give me… THEN PLAY!"_

Rigby's vision came back into focus. Above him looked what seemed to a slender and long hand; each strand of lightning representing a finger, with even a small one for a thumb. It slowly curled itself up into a ball and reached back. The thing then brought it self down, descending onto the raccoon.

He closed his eyes and tried to think of a happy thought. Something along lines of he and Mordecai, out in the park, running around, having fun. But he couldn't find a specific memory. He was too panicked and everything was caving in. He didn't want to think about his childhood, or his parents, or anything stupid like that. He wanted something that could make him go to death in peace. So instead, he just thought about his best friend, simply the image. That's all he wanted. He could die happy knowing he didn't screw anything up (or at least hope he didn't), and that he had someone special like Mordecai.

But it didn't come. He heard a shock and a scream, but death didn't come for him. His eyes shot open, revealing to him the one image he didn't want to see.

Towering above him he met with his best friend's eyes, screaming in utter pain, tendrils of electricity and lightning surrounding him, touching and violently caressing every inch of his feathered body. The fist had come down hard onto his back, tearing away feathers trying to get to his flesh. The blue jay screamed repeatedly at the top his lungs, holding steady with his hands to the floor, trying to protect his best friend. His scream suddenly stopped as he looked into Rigby's eyes.

The raccoon wanted to say something, anything, to try and get it to stop… to try and get him to stop feeling pain. All Rigby could do though was stare. He was in too much shock to do anything, and his body refused to reply to his minds actions. The image his best friend taking the blow for him was too much to process at the same time.

Suddenly, Mordecai let out a painful gasp. The creature had found what it was looking for. It had penetrated the birds flesh and found his heart. The pain stopped. Mordecai's mouth lay agape in stun and shock. He fell to floor next to his friend, curled into a ball, eyes wide, body twitching uncontrollably. A tiny trickle of blood slivered down his back from the opening the creature had made. The sight of his friend like this snapped the raccoon back into reality.

"Mordecai, Mordecai," Rigby screamed crawling over to his friend, "g-get up! Get up!"

He didn't know what to do. Rigby had no earthly idea what to do. His best friend lay in shock and dying on the floor in front of him. This was an even greater panic then they got themselves locked in the freezer.

"I-I-I can fix…," he tried to comfort the bird, repeating the same thing he always said in a situation like this, but he couldn't think. Every idea and conclusion came back faulty in his head. His mind was having trouble processing everything, and he kept running around in circles trying to figure out what to do next.

"This is it," a broken cracked voice commented questionably in front of them, "I didn't want this one."

Rigby looked up from his incapacitated friend to see what was talking. In front of him was Mordecai, or at least something that looked like his best friend. There were differences. For starters, he wasn't even a full Mordecai. Pieces of his side were broken, floating in place by electrical chains, not connected to anything. There was no flesh per say, as any openings just shined a bright light. No bone, or muscle of any sort. One of his eyes was dead, holding nothing inside them. The other couldn't even stay focused on one location for too long, shaking violently. His right arm suddenly disconnected and fell to ground. A string of electricity appeared from the socket near his shoulder and promptly picked it back up, connecting itself to the ends and reeling itself back into place. Whatever tail it had was connected by an umbilical cord of electricity directly to the speaker. And then there was the feather color. Lightning danced all around the body of pale green feathers, loving every bit of surface it touched.

"I wanted yours," the clone whined pointing to Rigby. "Oh well. I suppose this will have to do."

It took a step toward Rigby and his catatonic friend. That was one step too many for the raccoon. He quickly scooped up as much of his friend as he could and dragged whatever was left away from the monster.

"You said his name was Mordecai," it continued, taking another step, "right?"

Rigby didn't respond. His only thought right now was trying to get out of there without having to deal with this thing anymore.

"Iacedrom doesn't seem like a bad name," he said with another step. "Yes I quite like that name. Better than my old one, that's for sure. Yes! New name for a new body!"

The raccoon kept moving backwards, doing his best to keep his eye on the monster. Unfortunately, he ran out of room and his back hit the wall. The thing approached him and bent down to meet him face to face.

"Well now, Rigby," it said with terrible venom in its voice, "let's play."

Iacedrom's body surged and lightning flew everywhere. The tables and whatever objects nearby them picked themselves off the ground and floated quietly as electricity circled and lightly touched their surfaces.

It smiled happily as it reached his hand up for whatever reason. Rigby didn't want to know what it was going to do. He wanted out, and fast.

The monster's smile faded though as it was met with a steel frying pan.

"Forget about me," Margaret questioned the monster as she slammed the pan into the creatures face.

It didn't flinch, didn't even more. The only thing that had changed from it was its expression. Iacedrom's frown shined bright as day, pissed off beyond all compare.

"No," it muttered, "I didn't forget about you."

He seized her neck and pulled her into the air. The frying pan came down a few more times, as she tried in vain to stop Iacedrom. His arm suddenly began to inflate at an alarming pace, as it was about to reach its peak, burst forth a shockwave of electricity into the red robin and all around her.

"I'm just not ready to play with you yet," the being smirked.

The shocks took over her body as she dangled in its grasp. She tried to scream, but her body refused to release her voice. Her pain via electrocution was short lived though, as she was then hurled against the wall by the monster as it smirked.

For the briefest of moments she was able to feel like a real bird flying through the air without a thought in the world. In that moment she had begun to wonder if she was just dreaming, and that the moment she hit the ever coming, growing closer wall that she would wake up in her bed, in her little regular apartment, with her regular human boyfriend next to her. Margaret was sure of this. The one thing that she wanted to do right now was wake up from this nightmare.

She hit the wall, but she didn't wake up. When her theory had been proven wrong she fell from her momentarily plastered state against the fell, and toppled to the floor, hitting a sink on the way down. Upon further examination, the wall had apparently sustained cracks everywhere surrounding the point of impact.

When she finally hit the tile, a sense of relief washed over her as she came to the realization that she had no idea what those flying rats were so excited about. It was an almost comical thought she had as the pain washed over her body. Perhaps she was suffering from a concussion? The idea of flying was wiped from her mind however, as she glanced up from the floor to see Iacedrom looming over her with a giant smile on its face.

"You need to learn to be patient," he says with a smile on his face and a song in him heart.

His arm then popped off again, landing on a few short inches from Margaret's face. The monster bemoans itself before allowing his electrical tendrils to pick it back up and put it back into place on his already broken body.

"You know, when I copied this boy's body, I got some of his thoughts too" he continues, as he watches his arm pop back into place, "this boy has some really funny thoughts about you."

It giggles maniacally, expecting to get a rise out of the beat up female.

"Funny thoughts. Like… naughty funny thoughts."

It falls onto its stomach playfully, laughing all the while its doing it, eyes piercing poor Margaret.

"Maybe when I'm finished playing naughty with Rigby over there, you and I can play something naughty as well."

Margaret's response was to spit in its face. The saliva she shot cracked as it hit the monsters electrified skin. It couldn't help but laugh at her attempt at being brave.

"But," it continued, "I have other things to attend to first. Like your friend-"

He stopped himself midsentence when he realized something was a miss. Iacedrom picked itself up the floor in half a second to look around the room.

Rigby was gone, as was Mordecai.

The monster laughed out loud, content with this turn of events.

"Hide-and-seek, eh," it bellowed happily. "Now that's my type game."

The raccoon was able to drag himself and his friend behind counter in the middle of all the commotion with Margaret. For a split second he agreed that she made a great distraction, but at the moment self preservation of himself and his friend was top priority. The problem wasn't trying to get past Iacedrom, but it was getting past the door. Anyone with even one eyeball could see all the lightning and electricity dancing around it. He needed to come up with a plan, get out of the shop, get to a hospital and be Mordecai's hero. That sounded like a good plan actually. Shame he couldn't put it into action.

"Found you," came a high pitched voice.

Rigby's heart stopped for a moment. He looked to his left and right quickly. The monster wasn't peeking around the corner, and he wasn't above him either. He couldn't tell if the monster was just bluffing or had actually figured out where he was. It's not surprising when you think about it though. Rigby's hiding place wasn't exactly well hidden.

Suddenly, two large pale green wings appeared around him, trapping him in its grasp. He struggled in its constriction, but was then pulled forcibly through the counter, as pieces of splintered wood and paint flew past him. He found himself trapped in an uncomfortable and painfully electric hug from the monster.

"He's got some pretty thoughts about you too," the monster gasped, "only not as flattering."

Rigby's felt like he was going to have a heart attack from all the stress induced panic anytime now. He was waiting for something to happen, anything.

Iadecrom smiled. "Scream for me."

A shockwave burst and surrounded the two of them. Rigby's body was filled with electricity. Pain shot forth from every pore of his body. He screamed as loud as he could.

When the flash had dimmed, the raccoon found himself shivering from pain. The monster on the other hand was incredibly intent. A great smile appeared across his face, as he held unto his captive tighter.

"That was…," he said excitedly, "that was incredible! Again! AGAIN!"

Another wave of lightning struck, another wave of the raccoon screaming in pain.

"Again. This is so good!"

…and again.

"You have a beautiful scream, don't ya Rigby?"

…and again.

Rigby was beginning to go black out from all the shocks. The monster was making sure not to shock him enough to kill him, but enough to get what he wanted to hear. He didn't want to kill Rigby, or even hurt his body that much, he was too much fun. The chasing, the hiding, simple little sounds he makes when he suffers. Iacedrom liked this boy more than he should. He was beginning to get curious on to what the raccoon would sound like crying. Wouldn't that be exciting? The monsters tried to think of something, and then suddenly turned his attention to Mordecai. He wondered if he were to inflict pain on him, would that be enough to spark something in the raccoon?

He could feel all the thoughts that Rigby was turning over in his head. He could see memories of childhood past and adult present. He could see and feel everything about the young adult: his pains, joys, and hobbies. He could even seen the boys thoughts of love and lack there of. And then he saw something else in the raccoon as well. Something deep and buried that Rigby refused to entertain and kept it as hidden as he could, but also something very enticing to Iacedrom.

"...see it," the monster whimpered excitedly, "let me see it."

His thoughts were interrupted yet again by the same damn frying pan to his head. This time coming at a far more violent and rapid place.

"You know girl," he moaned turning his attention to Margaret, "you're more trouble then you're worth. I'm not a fan of the ménage e trois."

The red robin brought her arm back again and brought down another swift serving of skillet justice. The only problem was that when it came down and made contact with him, it wouldn't move from its point of contact. The frying pan was actually stuck to the monster.

"Enough of this," he moaned again, "it's really PISSING ME OFF!"

Upon ending his sentence, he sends another shockwave, bringing pain not only upon Rigby, but on Margaret as well, who just couldn't let go of that frying pan. Every window in the coffee shop shattered in an instant as he repeated the process a few more times until she finally relented and released her weapon, falling to the ground in the process. Both she and the raccoon were beginning to smoke from all the shocks, and neither really had any energy to go on.

The monster kept his gaze on her the whole time.

"When I'm finished with him," he said with a grimace, "then I'll play with you. How does that sound?"

Margaret wanted to say something loud and insulting. She wanted to spit in its face again, and call it the worst thing any person could ever think of. But her body was out of juice, and all she could do was lay on the floor panting and praying that someone would come and save them. She hated it, being the damsel in distress. She always thought that she would be the strong one to save the day, refusing to believe she could ever fall into the clichéd action movie female stereotype.

"You stay down there now," he added. "I'll be with you in a moment."

Iacedrom's smile reappeared as he returned his focus toward Rigby, tightening his grip.

"Now," his smiled widened, "where were we, love?"

"We were at this point," came a voice from in front of the monster.

The creature tried to react quickly, but found he was too late. All he saw was a blue blur from behind the counter. Coffee grounds flew toward him in an instant, every single grain hitting him with milliseconds of each other. He screamed, dropping Rigby in the process, doing his best to try and get the unprocessed pieces of joe out of his eyes and face.

Mordecai, leaning on the counter to try and keep his balance, took another gallon of ground up coffee beans, open the lid, tore off the protective covering, and flung it all at the direction of the monster.

"STOP IT," it screamed trying to get it all off of him.

Electricity surrounded it, trying to pick each and every bit off of him, but it was so difficult. If it was liquid, he could just bounce it off, but this was impossible. What was going on?

"IT HURTS," it screamed again, "STOP IT!"

Mordecai wasted no time in grabbing another gallon and tossing as much of the ground up coffee toward the monster as it writhed in pain. It only gave him a little time, but he knew what he was going to do; destroy the source of it.

The blue bird limped quickly over to the fire extinguisher he used the other day, grabbing it, and began to slowly make his way toward the stage. He quickly looked back to see if Iacedrom was still handling his coffee. The monster was screaming over and over, jumping around the room in random directions trying to brush everything off. Mordecai wasn't sure why the grounds were sticking to him in the first place, but he realized now was not the time to argue science.

"Pitch black, right," he said with a delightful grin on his face. Mordecai always wanted to make a snide comment to a monster, like in the movies.

When he finally got to the stage, he slammed the extinguisher down unto the old unlucky speaker. After which he jumped off the stage in a huff waiting for the inevitable.

The string of lightning still residing inside the speaker crossed paths with the extinguisher, causing the a powerful lightning bolt to surge through the item, and creating an alerting jolt to its master. The alert whipped from Iacedrom's umbilical cord tail to his brain. His body perked up, and his attention shot directly to his womb.

"Oh crap…"

In an instant, the extinguisher exploded, taking with it the speaker in the process, and the tendril of life that was holding Iacedrom together. It slipped away, and a few seconds later, the monster faded as well, giggling softly as it did. And then, there was darkness.

* * *

Benson received the call a couple of hours later telling him about the commotion that was going on at the coffee house. He already knew something was up when he noticed all the electricity in the city had come back on, the house and park included. Needless to say, he and Pops were in the city in a heartbeat entering the local hospital and ascending an elevator to get to his destination.

Rigby and Margaret seemed to hold up pretty well in their battle with the terrible creature. Rigby especially, as it surprised the doctors to find that after getting shocked that many times there was little damage. Only a few cuts and bruises here and there, but nothing to warrant a stay overnight in the hospital. They told them, "they were lucky," and already had the papers ready to sign them out when Benson and Pops appeared from down the hallway.

"What did you two do now," he asked Rigby with that usual angry tone in his voice.

Rigby defended himself but wasted no time in telling them events of what happened during the night, with Margaret interjecting every now and then to add her side of the story and commentary to it. In the end, they had to explain why the thing burst forth from the speaker and the whole story with the city blackout.

"Seems logical to me," the doctor next to them pointed out.

Benson sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, hoping that the rest of the staff wasn't as easy going as this.

"Is that all," the gumball machine asked, "anything else?"

Rigby nodded and pointed toward the room they were all standing outside of. Benson took a step inside for a moment to peek, knowing full well what was on the other side.

Mordecai lay sleeping in a bed, bandages tied up nearly all over him with an IV drip in his arm, pumping him with morphine to try and ease the pain.

The gumball machine exited the room just as fast as he went in and faced the doctor standing with the group.

"How bad is it," he questioned the doctor.

The doctor glanced at him a few moments before writing something down on his clip board. He clicked his pen a few times as he did this, slightly angering the gumball machine.

"He'll be fine," the doctor finally answered. "But he has taken on some pretty bad nerve damage, and needs to take some time off from work in order to fully recover. I've suggested some physical therapy for him. Sadly, he'll never be able to fly again."

Rigby cocked an eyebrow.

"He could never fly to begin with," the raccoon added to the doctor's comment.

"Oh. Well then, never mind."

The doctor then quickly clicked his pen and wrote "mutant" across the paper on his clip board.

"MARGARET," someone screamed from behind them.

The red robin jumped at the sound of her own name being yelled a few feet away. She frowned knowing who it was.

A tall, unattractive, electric eel appeared from behind them sporting an extremely revealing skirt and half shirt top.

"What did I tell all of you about that speaker," she yelled from across the hospital hallway.

Everyone looked toward the red robin curiously. She groaned, and cursed under her breath.

"That's my boss," she introduced with an unhappy expression on her face.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU," the eel screamed meeting her employee face to face.

The whole group looked on in horror as the sea creature began to vocally attack and deface the other female. Random curses spewed out as droplets of spit flew into the birds face and eyes. The whole time, Margaret carried an embarrassed and over all very annoyed look on her face. She would do anything to get out of that very moment.

It wasn't like it was the first time that she had been publically humiliated by her boss. The entire staff at the coffee house had been reprimanded repeatedly by their boss at least once while they were there, usually in front of other customers. But this time, she seemed to be angrier than usual.

"We didn't know it was going be dangerous," Margaret finally squeaked. "We just thought it was a normal everyday speaker. I didn't think-"

"No," the other female harped, "you didn't think, that's the problem! When I say don't touch something its bad news, then it's BAD NEWS!"

Several nurses and patients peak their heads out from out of the rooms surrounding the group to see what all the commotion was about. Her voice reverberated all across the floor, even catching the attention of some of coma patients as they twitched nervously.

"Excuse me," Benson interrupted, "but what exactly was it that attacked our employees."

The eel slowly turned her angry expression on to the gumball machine. Benson couldn't help but cringe at how unattractive this woman was when she scowled.

"And just who the hell are you," she demanded.

"Answer my question," Benson countered with an angrier expression, as his gumballs began to slowly turn a bright crimson. This man was in no mood to play around. He may not like Rigby or Mordecai, but they were still his employees and he was responsible for them.

The eel's expression suddenly turned slightly embarrassed. She brought her hand to her mouth and tried to clear her throat before mutter something inaudible about a "ghost" and an "axe".

Everyone looked at each other, and then looked at Benson. His face was frozen in a stern and angry pose, looking deeply into this woman's shifting eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said with a twitch, "I didn't catch that."

The eel sighed.

"It was the ghost of my masochistic, overly sexed, cheating ex-husband. I got sick of him, so I binded his soul to a speaker."

Margaret's face went blank for a moment. The strange creature that they fought, that identified himself as an opposite of Mordecai, was her boss's ex-husband? And her boss cursed him into a speaker, as well? She suddenly felt like she needed to sit down.

The eel massaged her forehead for a moment before saying that, "it was the eighties, everyone was doing it. You didn't really know him anyways. If you did, you would have done the same thing. He was an electric eel with a thing for role playing and umm... how do I put this, a taste for inflicting pain mid-passion?"

Both Rigby and Margaret felt sick to their stomach. Not only had they been thrown around like ragdolls for the amusement of the thing, but also that it was actually getting its "kicks" so to speak from doing it. And then there was that whole thing about doing naughty things with Margaret? Her feathers stood on end and her skin crawled all over. Rigby had a similar revelation when he realized what all those hugging shocks were all about, and suddenly felt ill all over.

"I'm going in here now," Rigby said in a low raspy voice, walking into the hospital room.

"Yeah," Margaret added, "I think I'm going to follow you and see if I can find a throw up bag."

"Make it two," the raccoon the grimaced.

They had barely been able to take a step when they were interrupted by a shrill voice.

"Where do you think you're going," the female sea creature screamed, "I'm not finished talking with you yet."

Margaret whimpered and turned her attention back to her employer.

"Ms.," the bird whined, "I'm really tired, and I hurt, and my friend is knocked out in the other room, and I feel like I'm going to throw up. Can I please just have the short version so I can go relax for a sec'?"

The eel crossed her arms and returned to her angered expression.

"You're fired," she said coldly.

The ice in her voice carried over to the red robin and froze her in her tracks.

"Fired," Margaret asked quietly.

The eel nodded before turning her crosshairs on to Benson.

"And as for you and your little troublemakers," she yelled, "I hope you got a good lawyer, cause I'm gonna bleed you for every penny you own me for the damages on my shop."

Benson's stern expression shifted a smug and secure smile.

"Hi," he greeted her formally, "I'm Benson, one of the caretakers and grounds man for the city park. And this is Pops."

He graciously introduced the strangely excited man to her with a comforting smile on his.

"Pops," he continued, "tell Ms. Whatever-her-name-is here what university you attended."

The lollipop man's face lit up with joy.

"Well," he stated happily, "I graduated from the Lolliland School of Business and Etiquette. They had this wonderful home schooling program where the teachers would-"

"And what was one of the things you graduated with," Benson asked, trying to get to the point.

"Oh, well," Pops continued, slightly put off after being interrupted, "I graduated with a Masters in business and a J.D. in law!"

He then erupted into fits of laughter and giggles.

Benson's smile widened as he approached the eel.

"And correct me if I'm wrong," he started on her, "but it was your ex-husband who attacked MY employees, right?"

She took a step back.

"And you were the one who trapped him inside a speaker, with no way of anyone knowing who was in it, and, of course, you just had to put it in a place that was publicly accessible. And with nobody knowing where he was, except for you, wouldn't that also make him solely your responsibility?"

"Well I-"

"And having someone trapped in a speaker who was considered dangerous, wasn't that also you're responsibility as well?"

The eel didn't have anything to say, while Benson just smiled evilly all the while.

"He may look tame and naive," the candy dispenser said in a low whispering voice, referring to Pops, "but he is a beast in the court room. Why do you think we're still grounds keepers after all the crap Rigby and Mordecai put us through?"

As Benson was threatening this now scared to death woman, Rigby had taken the time to step into his friend's hospital room, taking a seat in a chair next to the bed. Having no connection to Margaret made it easier to ignore her canning and leave her still in shock outside the door, and he was so used to Benson's arguing that it just went in one ear and out the other.

So instead of adding anything to the conversation, or comforting Margaret in her time of need, the raccoon found more pleasure in watching his sleeping friend.

_Song Pong – Infected Mushroom_

**Author's Notes**

8000 frikkin' words. This thing took me nearly a full week to write, correct, add-on, and yet I still don't think I put enough effort into it. In fact, up to this point I think I've put this chapter through the proof blender at least ten times, and I was still adding stuff. I've written up to Chapter 9 and I still keep coming back to this chapter to do this and that. Bleh... I feel as though that Iacedrom ending was rushed and kind of hackneyed.

Anyways, this is the part in the story where the actual main arc takes hold. For those who survived my painfully slow introduction chapters, thank you for sticking with me. And just so you all know, this is not the only behemoth chapter the series will have. I'm going to keep adding oddities to the story. There will be many bizarre action chapters like this one in the future as well! Yay~!

I think it also might be worth noting, that this fic could very well go up in rating sometime in the future. I mean this chapter had some pretty graphic scenes, but nothing that would warrant a change to M, which it will, at some chapter in the future.

_So Until Next Chapter…_

_Adieu…_


	6. Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud

**Chapter Six**

**Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud**

The blue bird lay quietly in his hospital bed, breathing softly, as his mind wandered somewhere in a morphine induced coma. What was he dreaming about? Where was he going in it? Did it have anything to do with his friends or family?

Rigby asked himself all these questions as he watched his friend comfortably recover from their ordeal no more than a couple of hours ago. It was a calming sight to the raccoon, but also maddening and just out and out stressful.

It was calming simply because he knew his friend was going to be alright. Thanks to some anonymous hipster with a cell phone who just so happened to pass by the coffee shop after their ordeal with Iacedrom, the group was able to be rushed to the emergency room as soon as possible, and get the treatment they needed. Mordecai was the issue though. Coming in more banged up then the other two, he was wrapped up, placed on an IV drip, and pumped full of pain killers. Thankfully, after a quick look through by the doctor, it was determined that the blue jay was going to be alright, though not without issues. Some physical therapy and repeated check ups would impede his life for a couple of weeks, but overall, Mordecai was going to pull through just fine.

What made the whole thing so maddening and stressful was the full lead up to it. Rigby and Margaret both found themselves in a panic worrying about how their friend was holding up. The fact that that thing had gotten a hold of him and electrocuted him so violently from the inside out, and didn't kill the blue bird, was nothing short of a miracle to the both of them. However, picking himself back up and saving the day drained whatever strength he had left. The doctor's were sure he was going to die after getting a weak heartbeat and several vital organs ravaged.

Rigby and Margaret paced the waiting room waiting for a sign, or at least they tried to pace. Their injuries were minimal, but they still had trouble standing on their own two feet, or even four paws in Rigby's case. In the process of their battle with the monster, Margaret had developed a slight tic in her right hand that still hadn't gone away, and Rigby found that he didn't want to touch or be touched by anyone living. When the doctor came out and gave them the good news, they were both ecstatic. Margaret tried to run over and give Rigby a great big hug, but as she tried to reach for him her hand twitched and accidentally slapped the raccoon in the face, causing him to panic, run around the room randomly, and eventual run face first into a wall.

"…ugh…," Mordecai moaned as he struggled to wake himself up.

The raccoon's attention snapped back to the present as he heard his friend try to make his return to reality. He looked on intently, leaning over his friend, keeping his balance by standing on the chair and keeping his arms securely gripped onto the bed rail. The blue jay shifted a little bit before coughing and falling back into his drug addled dream. Rigby groaned unhappily as he pushed himself away from the bed and back onto his chair.

He couldn't stand any of this: this silence, this stress, this anticipation. He wanted to talk to his friend, make sure he was alright, and go back to the stupid silliness that they so often get into. All he wanted to see was that his friend would get one eye open and greet him joyously. No issues with his body, no trauma, no new fears or anything from the experience. They had had enough terror for one night to last them at least until the next crazy and horrific thing happens. Most of all, he just wanted his friend back safe and sound.

They had done a lot of crazy things before, but nothing that had ever landed either of them in the hospital before. It was a new point of view for the raccoon. He didn't know what to think of it. His friend was before him, helpless and pathetic, compared to the strong and joking man he had come to befriend and admire all his life. At least he believed his friend was strong.

"How's he holding up," asked a feminine voice from behind the raccoon.

Rigby turned around to find Margaret standing just inside the door way, with an emotionless expression covering her face, though eyes filled with concern for her blue friend. She closed the door once fully inside the room, doing her best to try and drown out the sounds of arguing from both her and the boy's employers outside.

Rigby didn't say anything. Just turned back around and focused on his best friend in the bed. He had no patience to deal with her right now.

Margaret sighed deeply and took a seat in a chair on the other side of the bed. The red robin had forgotten just how uncomfortable hospital chairs were, or maybe it was just her growing concern that was making it seem unbearable. She looked down at Mordecai, trying to size up the damage, but couldn't help but awe at how peaceful he looked laying there. After the night they had, she didn't mind the peace and quiet that had creeped up on them at that moment. Her attention then shifted to Rigby, still looking on in quiet solace.

"How are you doing," she asked trying to get a response out of the quiet mammal.

No answer. All he did was sit there and stare at his friend, his mind running through a thousand different thoughts a second.

The red robin licked the edge of her bottom beak, and tried again.

"He'll be alright, ya know."

"Stop talking," Rigby finally snapped, keeping his voice down, "just be quiet."

Margaret was taken a back by this. She couldn't help but feel a little offended by his sudden rude outburst, and wanted to say something in retaliation, but just didn't have the will to carry it out, considering the situation. They were all tired and irritable, so tensions were already at a high without them at each others throats. Instead, she just kept her mouth shut and curled up in her chair. Maybe she could get a few moments of rest while the raccoon was busy sulking.

That seemed to be all he was doing. Rigby sat there with his eyes focused on Mordecai, replaying that same event in his head. Closing his eyes and opening them to see his friend above him, taking a brutal onslaught of electricity that should have been directed at him. Every time the small raccoon blinked, he saw it again for a split second. The same thing over, and over again, with the details getting slightly more vivid each time. The face Mordecai made when slammed by Iacedrom, the way his body twitched and moved as he was shocked, the screams he released, and even the way he fell over when it was all said and done.

The entire time it all happened, Rigby just sat there petrified at what he was witnessing. The more he kept repeating that moment the more he wanted to find away to go back and do something about it. He wanted to push the bird out of the way, he wanted to escape from his state of panic and attack the electrified monster, hell, even if he just tell Mordecai he was going to be alright during the whole thing, he would have felt a little better about it. But the more he thought about it, the more it ached at his insides. He hated seeing his friend in this condition. Worse, though, was that he could do nothing to help him with it. All Rigby could do was wait and watch.

He glanced over at Margaret, watching her try to fight off the attack of sleep that was beginning to overpower her. The moment her eyes slowly began to close, they fluttered back open, trying to keep watch of the situation, but begging rest. Rigby watched this dull act, realizing that he had never really given much thought to Margaret, but having spent so much time with her now, he had come up with his opinion of her.

He hated her.

The man found that he hated every single bit of this woman. If it wasn't for her, then they wouldn't have gotten into this whole situation. He and Mordecai would still be somewhere, playing punchies for some stupid reason or another, eating junk food, playing video games, and continue to make Benson's life a living hell. But they weren't doing that. They were in a hospital after getting attacked by her now ex-employer's ex-husband, who was trapped in a stereo speaker from the 1980s, that the red robin just had to get out to complete a stage that Mordecai just had to help build in order to impress this girl.

At that very moment, his blood pressure shot up, and he wanted nothing more than to pounce on the female and maul her beak off. The most basic of instincts in his body to protect someone he cared about so deeply flared up. If it weren't for his fur a person could tell he was beginning to turn a deep shade of furious purple, envying that of even Benson's rage.

And yet, his body refused to move. The anger in him persisted, but he refused to attack the young woman. He knew that Mordecai had so many feelings for her, so he kept himself at bay. As much as he wanted to do something terrible and lethal to her, he just couldn't stand to risk it. The risk of losing the only real friendship he had was too great to consider.

His mind suddenly flashbacked to a few weeks earlier, when he asked for something Mordecai was more than happy to give to him. That embrace, the thought of his arms outstretched and surrounding him cooled his nerves and brought him back to his state of solace. He smiled happily as he thought about it. Though the hug had only lasted a couple of seconds, it still weighed heavily on him, giving him strength to try and see this through.

He didn't want to lose it. That thread of hope and friendship that hug symbolized. Rigby wanted to feel it again, wanted feathers surrounding him, keeping him close, safe even. Wanted to be caressed, or even feel his friend's beak against his neck. They were strange thoughts that crawled into Rigby's brain and now and then, but they always relaxed him. They were thoughts that came and went in passing, burying themselves deep into some unknown conscious of the raccoon.

But when he thought about it too much, blue was replaced with green, and he remembered that painful feeling from earlier. He remembered how that monster looked just like him. Donned his faced and attack the raccoon with it. Rigby never wanted to associate Mordecai's face with pain, at least in a serious way. He never wanted to associate his best friend with death.

Rigby quickly shut the thought out of his mind, not wanting to think of anything from earlier in the night. The only thing that he was going to concern himself with right now was worrying about his friend and going home so that everything could go back to normal. He didn't want to be lost in his thoughts anymore. They confused him and caused him to second guess himself. But the more he tried to stop himself, the more he thought deeper on it. It was difficult not to be lost in ones own mind considering the situation.

He wasn't aware of how long he had been sitting there thinking. Margaret had fallen into a deep sleep, and the soft muffling of voices outside the room had ceased. The raccoon wished that there was a clock or something in the room to know what time it was. All he knew is that it was sometime past midnight, probably sometime before sun rise. He was bored and his body was in a state of exhaustion that refused sleep. He looked up at the TV situated in the corner of the room, but didn't feel like searching through late night programming. Odd, considering he loved all shows after 2am usually.

Sighing again and staring up at the ceiling, he tried to think of something else entirely. Maybe something like the stuff they were going to do when they get back. He had no doubt that Benson was going chew them out for everything that happened in the city. They caused a huge blackout and summoned a terrible beast from a speaker. A speaker of all places! He was expecting at least some sort of repercussion. But he knew that their jobs were safe. With the settlement that the park was no doubt going to receive from the coffee house lawsuit that Benson and Pops were obviously going to win, things would surely go back to normal. Wouldn't they?

When he looked back over at the hospital bed, he was shocked to see eyes looking right back at him. He flinched for a moment before realizing that Mordecai was awake, sitting up with a smile on his face.

"Hey buddy," the blue bird said.

A giant smile formed on the raccoon's face as he jumped from his seat and into the bird's chest, embracing him instantly.

"Dude," Rigby loudly exclaimed, "you're finally awake!"

This is exactly what he wanted to see. His friend was up and at 'em, not showing any sign of fatigue or exhaustion. Rigby knew this was how his friend was. He could be beaten, stabbed, burned, and yes, even electrocuted and he would still find a way to survive it.

"Hey hey," Mordecai complained with a playful smile trying to pry the raccoon off him, "I'm fine, man! Let go!"

The blue jay was finally able to detach his friend from his chest and sit him on the floor.

Rigby was ecstatic. He didn't know what to say to his friend. Actually, the raccoon found that he was more giddy than usual. Mordecai's concerned smile lit him up on the inside and was enough to give him all his energy. Who needed to sleep when you got someone who's face was enough to keep you up for days?

Mordecai raised an eyebrow to his friend.

"Dude, what's with you? You alright?"

Rigby nodded quickly, still trying to do his best to contain his excitement.

"Alright then. Wow, even when I wake up from near death you still act all weird. Not that that's surprising."

Mordecai glanced around the room, trying to observe this unfamiliar territory. It was obviously a hospital room, but he was expecting to be there after getting attacked. He took a quick look as his body, and noticed all his body was covered in medical wrap, not to mention an IV in his arm that was giving him a wicked feeling of euphoria. After taking in all this information he had to ask the question that was gnawing at his mind.

"Where's Margaret," he asked calmly.

Rigby's heart sank. The moment his friend gets up, the first thing he has to do is be worried about her. He, of course, wouldn't be worried about his best friend who he's known all his life. The raccoon groaned slightly and pointed in the direction of the empty chair on the opposite side of the bed. Wait a second. Empty?

That was strange. Margaret was sitting there just a moment ago, and now she was gone. How did she get away from the room without him noticing?

"Well," Rigby finally spoke, "she was here."

"Was she alright," Mordecai asked in response.

Rigby nodded his head with as little enthusiasm as he possibly could muster.

The bird smiled contently with this answer.

"You know what," he continued, "I'm hungry. Could you find me something to eat, dude?"

Not even a second after he asked that, Rigby was already out of the room searching for sustenance for his friend. He wasn't gone for more than a minute or two when he returned with a plate of stereotypical hospital food: a sandwich, some steamed carrots, and a slightly disgusting looking green gelatin cup for sweets.

Mordecai laughed under his breath. "Nice."

The raccoon shoved the food next to his friend, and placed himself on the bed sitting next to the blue bird happily.

Mordecai was about to take a bite of his newly acquired sandwich, when a thought crossed his mind.

"You stole this food from another room didn't you," he said knowing what the answer was.

"No," Rigby lied.

The little raccoon knew that his friend saw through the fib, and was going to verbally discipline him as he so often does, but instead was gifted with a roar of laughter.

"I wouldn't expect anything else from ya, dude," Mordecai said before taking a bite of his stolen sandwich.

It mirrored an event that they had been involved in before, only this time there was no consequence. Benson wasn't coming in accusing Rigby of this and that, and Mordecai wasn't angry for his friend's laziness and lying nature. Rigby didn't know what to think of it. He just sat there and coolly enjoyed the company. He felt an arm wrap around his side, filling him with an instance of warmth.

The young man looked up to his friend smiling at him. The food tray was gone strangely, and everything seemed to be a little fuzzy. He didn't notice any of that though. His attention was lost in his friends eyes locked on him. They were trying to tell him something, but were too hard to decipher. Mordecai's arm began to pull the raccoon in closer to his body.

Rigby began to blush under his fur. He never blushed around his friend, because well, it was his friend! There were times that he blushed in embarrassment, but not like this. This was something else entirely. It was happening all at once. Something inside him dropped out, and was filled with some sort of drug that made all his ambitions fly out the window. He tried to look away, wanting to make that bizarre feeling stop. He never felt like that, not around Mordecai anyways. As he tried to pull away though, the blue jay just pulled him back closer. There was no escape. Mordecai said something inaudible and jumbled. Whatever it was, it wasn't important as he was too busy embracing the raccoon to care.

Rigby was in fear of what was happening. His body was no longer trying to pull away. In fact, it was enjoying the feeling of the embrace. He could feel Mordecai's hands gently caress and pet the fur all around his friend's body. His fur stood on end as the bird lightly dragged a finger along his tail. A hand reached into reached around to Rigby's chest, gently grabbing hold on fur. This wasn't like the embrace before. This was something completely different. It was more violent, more forceful, more... passionate?

The raccoon looked up at his friend, his heart beating like a jack hammer. Mordecai had a look of seduction in his eyes, yearning for friend. Rigby tried to fight it, pushed away, escape the grasp. But he couldn't do it. Something inside wanted it, needed it, and screamed for it. It was like someone was dangling a toy for him just out reach. He reached up for it, wanting it, wanting him. He caught it. The world went hazy and they succumbed to their twisted desires.

His eyes shot open right then. He jumped up suddenly from his foreign state of exhaustion and fell to the floor from his chair. When his mind had processed the sensation of pain, he realized that he had been dreaming.

"Good morning," came Margaret's voice from above him.

Rigby picked himself up from off the ground and observed everything around him. Mordecai was still in his bed, sleeping without a bit of yearning in his eyes, or even open eyes for that matter, while Benson, Pops, and Margaret stared down at the raccoon who had just returned from his bizarre slumber.

The sun was out, evident with the rays of light and the sounds of morning chirping that flew in through the open window. How long had he been asleep? He didn't feel himself fall asleep even. The last thing he remembered was staring up at the ceiling and trying to figure things out. Was it even possible to fall asleep so quickly like that?

His mind thought fast, trying to process all that had happened to him in such a short amount of time, the image of Mordecai and him deep in, well… the state of "connection" they had been in was still heavy on his mind and was having trouble processing itself. It wasn't as though he hadn't had the dream before, but he thought that his mind would at least let up on the confusion and let him relax for a few hours. He was beginning to hate the fact that his brain had been working overtime the whole night, and was only making things worse for him as time crept by. The whole room spun for a moment while he tried to place himself back in the world. He only made out one thing before dizzying himself out and collapsing to the floor.

"So Margaret," Benson began, "how are you at taking care of a park?"

_Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud – David Bowie_

**Author's Notes**

I really liked writing this chapter. I felt like writing a big descriptive chapter centering around a single character. I had also considered putting this chapter and chapter seven together, but I felt that it would take away from Rigby, especially since the next chapter is in the same style as this but more about Margaret. And yes, this is the chapter where "shipping" finally slowly begins. I don't know what it is, but I don't like that word "shipping". *shrugs*

I'm also very curious, does anyone listen to any of the songs that these chapters are named after if you've never heard them? You don't have to answer.

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	7. Playing with Pink Noise

**Chapter Seven**

**Playing with Pink Noise**

Margaret was having trouble trying to pick the right emotions to convey the past few days. All the amounts of shock, panic, relief, and idiocy had caused whatever was left of her psyche to temporarily burn out. She had gone from the joy of fixing a stage with her friends, to fear of losing said friends, to panic of the aftermath, and then finally sorrow and relief of losing, and then apparently, finding a job. She was exhausted and wouldn't have minded turning off all emotional reaction and drowning in a sea of monochrome, but she had bigger issues to deal with before that.

She took the job that Benson offered her, knowing anything would be better than the scourge of unemployment. With Mordecai incapacitated for the next few weeks, and with her being jobless after getting canned by her boss, she really had no choice but to act as the blue bird's replacement while he recovered.

They had moved Mordecai safely back to the house the very day of Margaret's agreement to work at the part, no more than a few short hours after the trio had been admitted into the hospital. While he hadn't officially come out of his state of dreaming yet, he had shown signs of being aware of his surroundings. Little mutterings here and there filled the living room every so often to anyone who was passing by the couch.

Why was the blue jay not nestled safely in his own bed in his own room?

"No," Rigby disagreed childishly, "I am not sharing a room with her."

Mordecai mumbled something none in the room could hear. A park meeting had been called a few hours after everyone had returned from their adventure at the house of medicine, as Pops called it. The whole park staff had gathered together to learn about the situation at hand. Benson was sitting in his living room chair that he had grown so fond of, while Pops stood beside him, with Skips sitting on the stairs doing his best to try and not get bored with the current state of affairs, and Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost (the two missing players) chuckled amongst themselves in a corner. With nowhere else to sit, Rigby had found himself perched on the top of the couch overlooking his friend.

After several introductions were made to the whole staff of the park, and after Muscle Man made some off color jokes under his breath, the question of where this new girl would sleep was brought up. It was obvious that the first place suggested was going to be in Mordecai and Rigby's room, while the bird lay asleep on the couch downstairs.

The raccoon continued. "Why doesn't she sleep on the couch, and Mordecai can rest on his own bed?"

Benson groaned from his chair before answering.

"This is why."

The gumball machine then proceeded to approach the sleeping bird on the sofa and slap him a few times across the face. Mordecai lay there blissfully sleeping. Benson then tried screaming at the top of his lungs in the bird's ear, hoping to trigger some sort of reaction. Nothing came from it however.

"He's like a rock right now," Benson continued. "I would much rather have her sleeping in Mordecai's bed uninterrupted, than have her down here getting woken up at all times of the night by any of us."

He was just trying to look out for his employees, and make sure that they had adequate rest for their jobs. Of course, being in a secluded room never stopped Rigby or Mordecai from acting like idiots at all times of the night, and it sure as hell wasn't going to stop the raccoon now.

"I don't wanna bunk with some girl," Rigby complained.

There was an awkward silence that filled the room as everyone stared at Rigby and then over to Margaret.

The red robin had found herself leaning against the front door, a small suitcase at her feet, and an embarrassed expression washing over her face. All she wanted to do at the moment was find a place to relax and sit down for a few minutes. She was still exhausted from the night before, and to top it off, she still had on her work clothes from the coffee house. With a deep sigh she walked over to the raccoon sitting on top of the couch.

"Please Rigby. It's not gonna be forever. Just for a couple of weeks until Mordecai gets back on his feet. After that, I'll be out of here. Plus, I need the job right now. You can understand that, right?"

Her eyes glowed with need. She didn't mean any harm, nor did she mean anything else for that matter. What she said was what she meant. There was no underlining meaning behind it or anything else to that nature.

It wouldn't be Rigby though if he actually agreed with it, nor was it helping that he felt he was being talked to like a child again. Though, right before he could complain anymore, he was interrupted by his employer, yet again.

"He's fine with it," Benson answered for him, "and if he's not, too bad. He should have thought about that before blacking out the whole city and injuring one of my staff."

Rigby couldn't believe it. Not only was he actually being blamed for the whole ordeal, but also for hurting Mordecai. Let's forget that Mordecai was too love struck and got him involved in the whole thing to begin with, or forget that Margaret was the one who found the speaker in the first place. Let's forget that Rigby wanted nothing to do with this and just wanted to hang with his bro. And yet somehow out of all of this, everyone seemed to put a good deal of the blame on him.

"Ummm," Margaret tried to interrupt, "the whole blackout thing was my fault."

"I don't care whose fault it was," Benson angrily said, not believing her one bit, "the point is that you can have the bed upstairs, and Rigby, well… DEAL WITH IT!"

The group scattered shortly after that, returning to their daily duties in the park and trying to forget about all the craziness that was their daily lives. Rigby was told to take her luggage upstairs and situate her so she knows what all had to be done around the park. He then instructed them to both take the rest of the day off to sleep off all the trouble they had the night before. That request was music to their ears.

Margaret observed the room as she entered. It was just about what she expected it to be: an empty room with little to no items of interest filling it. Sure there were some posters of various singers and such on the wall, and maybe a few toys and strewn clothes here and there, but it was mostly empty, devoid of any real excitement, and just unimpressive as a whole. This confused her considering all the stories that she had heard from the duo. Their wacky misadventures and all the horrific evils they had accidentally unleashed upon the world. The only things that really stood out in their room was a bed and a trampoline. There was a dresser drawer there too, but it looked like it had had little to no use.

"That's my bed," Rigby grimaced, noticing her attention to bouncing toy.

"You sleep on a trampoline," she asked. That's bizarre. She always thought something else actually. It was something that always ate at her mind.

"Yeah, yeah," the raccoon answered quietly.

He walked over to his bed and jumped on it, hoping to drown out the world. A few bounces later, and the earth was steady again. He couldn't help but notice Margaret still fixated on him with an inquiring expression.

"What," he asked sharply.

The red robin looked away, turning her attention to her new bed. She lifted her suitcase and placed it there, taking another glimpse around the room. Then, she too jumped onto her new bed, trying to figure things out. It was surprisingly sturdy, a little hard though. It wasn't her usual resting spot, but her apartment was too far away from the park, and she needed to be close by to her work. And it's only for a few weeks, maybe a month or two at the most. She could live with that. Though, it made it even more difficult since her boyfriend lived even farther from that. The bird sighed and realized how much it sucked to be without a car.

"I should tell Slasher where I am," she thought, returning to her boyfriend. The whole ordeal with the past 24 hours had made her forget about the man completely.

She looked to Rigby again to see if he was going to add anything to her voiceless thought. His back was toward her and his tail dangled limply over the edge of the trampoline. She was beginning to think that he didn't like her. But then she realized that the one he cared about the most was still slightly comatose downstairs, so she forgave him. Only this was the last time. The raccoon had been pretty nasty to her the past few hours, so she let this one be the last one to slide.

"So what do we do here," she asked Rigby. "What's my job?"

He didn't answer at first, choosing to squirm a little bit in his bed before saying anything.

"Benson tells us what to do in the morning."

Margaret acknowledges with an "okay" before returning to her state on the bed. It itself smelled strange. Like the scent of sweat and bad cologne. She wondered if there were any stray feathers or fur underneath the sheets, and got curious as to what had been done on this bed before she was there. It wasn't like her bed was any better. The scent of this new bed was definitely strange, but it was also very familiar too. She closed her eyes and tried to think of her old one. Broken red feathers, the scent of sweat and perfume, pieces of Slasher's hair mixed in with unseen pieces of other men she had been with, stains on the sheets from a night of passion the night before, it was all there. When she opened her eyes, things looked different again, but still familiar.

And then she asked something she always wanted to ask them, but was too afraid to. It was something she always thought was common knowledge to her, but seeing their life for the first time, wasn't so sure anymore.

Did they ever share a bed?

Did Rigby and Mordecai ever share this bed in particular? Her mind wondered into someplace dark, trying to find the images and piece them together. Images of the two men locked in each others arms, gasping, searching, finding the things needed to make each spasm and belt out in excitement.

She took a deep breath and tried to return to the real world. It was always her understanding that Rigby and Mordecai had been, and always were a couple. The way they moved around together, played together, finished each others sentences, and even their little squabbles seemed to suggest that they were more than friends. They acted like a married couple everywhere they went. This was the first time she had began to wonder if maybe she was wrong.

Margaret thought about it, trying to rationalize everything that was happening. Tomorrow was the first day on her new job. She should be unpacking her things, getting herself ready for the next day by resting, and trying to cheer Rigby up so that she has someone to talk to at the very least. Instead, she was sitting there thinking about the love life of two of her friends that she was now questioning whether or not they were together to begin with.

Everything that was happening was just running by too fast for her. She had trouble catching up. Her head began to hurt. She unzipped her suitcase and propped it open, looking for something specific. Located in one of the front pouches was a small bottle of aspirin that she greedily took and popped open. A quick pill in her mouth and she fell back into the embrace of the bed.

She thought about the rest of the grounds keepers that she had just met. Though she was only introduced briefly to them, she already had a pretty good idea what to expect from each one.

Benson was one of her clients back at the coffee shop, even if he only came in once a month or at all even, so she knew what to expect from him. He always seemed to be stressed, never really in a bad mood, but mostly stressed. He liked his coffee with lots of cream and sugar, and was always in such a hurry to get out of the shop. Upon listening to further dialogue with him earlier in the day she found that he seemed like a fine man, though he seemed more sad than angry by the looks of it. There was something inside Margaret that just told her that he was never a truly cruel person, as Mordecai and Rigby had made him out to be. There was a sense of loneliness and isolation about him that tugged at her insides. Maybe she could get up early in the morning and make him some coffee. Maybe that would help him feel a little better. He looked like the type who was always in a hurry to get things done.

Her thoughts drifted to Pops. What a strange man this person was. She wasn't quite sure if he was human or not though. But either way, he seemed to be a charming person. His etiquette was second to none. He was so very polite and well mannered, and attached himself to anything anybody says. Margaret thought it was extremely adorable when he observed her red color and remarked over "such a beautiful female body". And when she started talking about everything she did in the coffee house and little bit about her personal life, he just hung on her every word, fascinated by everything that came out of her mouth. It would have seemed creepy if not for the fact that he gave off this infantile vibe that came off completely non-threatening. She didn't mean it like he was immature, but more so like everything was new to the man. She liked him.

Skips was a strange one. The only thing that he managed to spout out when she met him was "I'm Skips" and "please to meet you". That was it. She couldn't help but feel a little concerned about the towering yeti, acting like she was almost afraid of him. The more she thought about it, the more she did begin to realize how terrified of the man she was. She just couldn't figure him out completely. His voice, the size of his body, the way he moves, and everything else about him seemed to awaken some sort of childhood fear within her. She knew that he didn't mean any harm, or at least she thought that, but something inside her just wouldn't let it go. Margaret wasn't completely sure, but Skips scared her, plain and simple.

Her opinion on Muscle Man and the High-Five Ghost was that they were just too much of total creeps for her comfort. Other than the terrible pick up line that Muscle Man tried to put on her upon meeting them, they were always talking about bizarre things and how to go about doing them. They acted like two idiot frat boys with nothing better to do than go crazy and scope out chicks. They were obviously made to be heterosexual life partners. She decided it might be in her best interest to stay away from them for the time being.

Of course, she already had her opinion of Rigby and Mordecai knowing them for so long. At least, she thought she did anyways. She always saw them as this happy, if not without issues, gay couple who were just trying to get through life. They were funny and always a joy to hang around. She would have lied if she said she didn't have the tiniest crush on the both of them. Mordecai had a sort of schoolboy feel to him being collected and effective, but completely shy around certain people, herself included. He seemed to be an old school type of romance. Rigby was crazy and rowdy, speaking his mind first and not thinking about any of the consequences that followed. She loved that random factor about him and how he tries to fix everything if he screws up. They were both moderately attractive too, which was a nice bonus.

She always kept everything to the level though, believing them to be a couple that no one but herself knew about. Why else would they be so open to her? Well… Mordecai was open to her at least. He was always trying to get close and say something funny or debonair, but it always came out all wrong. But she liked it when he tried too hard. It made him seem even more attractive.

Margaret looked over in Rigby's direction, trying to size him up. She needed more info. It weighed heavily on her mind that she might have been wrong about something like this. Information like how they met, if they are a couple, if either of them are even into each other, if either were even interested in men for that matter, and other questions that swirled around her brain. She decided to pursue the answers tomorrow.

But until then, she lay back in her bed doing her best to clear those strange thoughts out of her head. She closed her eyes. Small blurry images became vivid as her mind casually wondered. She saw a gumball machine, sitting on cement steps feeling dejected and looking around him for some sort of comfort and finding none. She saw a tall lollipop headed man who twirled and danced around an ant hill as they went going along with their daily lives. She saw a large white yeti, towering over her with cat slit eyes, trying to peer into her soul. She saw two badly dressed frat boys hanging out outside a club trying to pick up women, and end up getting slapped by each and every one. And then, an image of brown and black striped fur mixed with light blue feathers, caught in each others tangled web. The mind went deaf as sound and dialogue was added into the mix: a man bursting into tears, another man laughing at the top of his lungs, a tall creature letting out a terrifying roar, two boys and their awful pickup lines, and a gasp of ecstasy.

The red robin's headache surged and she clutched her head in pain. Rigby looked over at her and rolled his eyes, not wanting to know what she was thinking about.

_Playing with Pink Noise – Kaki King_

**Author's Notes**

I had completed this chapter about three weeks ago, and yet I spent nearly half of this week going back, editing it, and just tweeking it up, instead of working on chapter eleven (which I have rewritten three times now). I ended up adding an extra 1000 words. At first, I was kind of indifferent about this chapter, but now I actually like it. Go fig...

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	8. In a Matter of Speaking

**Chapter Eight**

**In a Matter of Speaking**

Rigby never allowed his dreams to weigh heavy on his mind. Maybe if it was the first time he had had a dream of that type from the previous night, he might think differently, but the dream came up every so often. People have sex dreams about their friends. It's not a big deal. That's how Rigby rationalized it. Nothing ever came out of it. In fact, he liked them. They were still a shock to wake up from to since the mind is still stuck in the act of the dream itself, but he truthfully enjoyed them. More so for the closeness and strangely fitting romance that they contain. He usually just brushed off the actual act itself as simple fantasy.

A loud jarring sound burst into the raccoon's ears, signifying 8am. His eyes opened shot open, doing their best to adapt to the morning sun that shined in through the window. The world seemed brighter, more cheerful, all around better as he observed his bed room. He jumped up out of his trampoline and ran toward the nightstand next to Mordecai's bed and slammed down the button on the top of the alarm clock. Though he still hurt all over from the previous day, he agreed that was the best night sleep he had in a long time.

This was usually the part when Rigby would hop onto his best friend's bed and make an attempt to force the blue jay up, if he weren't already up that is. Not today. His best friend wasn't sleeping there today. The bed was empty, still messy from use from the previous night. Rigby pondered where his new roommate had run off to.

Margaret looked like someone who tossed and turned in her sleep. Though truthfully, she just couldn't sleep. It was too much trying to get used to a foreign bed in a foreign place, so she spent much of the night trying to get comfortable, finding the right position to rest herself in. Unfortunately, by the time she had finally gotten herself into slumber, the dawn had already begun to slowly approach over the horizon. Luckily for her, the rest she had gained from the night before in the hospital was still giving her the strength to press forward and put on a new pair of clothes. Her favorite grunge style jeans, and a pale white tank top with a silhouette of a whale and a small sailor boy on top with a telescope always made her feel better about waking up so early.

It made her at ease enough to get up before everyone else and make a few pots of coffee. Seeing as she was always up at 6am for her previous job, she was in her element. She wanted to make a good first day impression on everyone, so the best thing to do was put her best foot forward and show everyone that she knew what she was doing. After all, she needed the job.

"You don't have to do this," Benson said looking down at his mug of coffee.

The red robin smiled as she cleaned the coffee pot out in the sink. Benson could sense this, even with her back facing him.

"It's okay," she retorted, "I'm used to doing this kind of stuff everyday, so it's nothing big."

The gumball machine rolled his eyes before continuing.

"It kind of is," he said with a small grin forming on his face, "considering that I'm the only other person besides the idiots who drink coffee."

Margaret stopped washing for a moment to look at the gallon of coffee on the counter she had made, sitting warm and bubbly in a giant pitcher she had found in the cabinet. She suddenly felt a little foolish wasting all that coffee on three people: herself, Benson, and Rigby, and even she only liked a little coffee, not a lot. If only Mordecai was awake and active…

"Whoops," she replied to him.

"Don't worry about it," he said taking another sip of his coffee, "coffee's cheap, especially if you go dollar shopping."

She turned around to look at him. The gumball machine winked at her before leaning back in his chair. He seemed a little loose and care free this morning. The red robin was glad they could both laugh off her mistake. She sighed contently and finished with the coffee pot.

"By the way," she added, "coffee and drinks are really the only things I can do in the kitchen. I'm a terrible cook."

Benson nodded still enjoying his coffee in one hand, and a newspaper in the other.

"Pops and Skips are the cooks here," he reassured her. "The rest of us can't cook worth crap."

She laughed again. It seemed like she was going to fit right in to her new temporary home. "This is going to work out," she thought to herself as she put away the coffee pot.

When the inevitable alarm finally woke up Rigby, he stood around in his room for a few minutes before finally making the trek downstairs. He was surprised to see Benson and Margaret getting along just fine. Certainly a far cry from himself and Mordecai who seemed to piss off and annoy the candy dispenser any chance they could get. The thought of ditching breakfast and just waiting for the work day to start sounded like a plan to him at first, but the scent of freshly brewed coffee still lingered in the air, and his belly rumbled angrily.

"Mornin'," the female said to the raccoon as he walked into the kitchen. She had perched herself in the chair next to Benson, holding a cup of coffee while trying to enjoy the morning.

Rigby didn't really acknowledge either Margaret or Benson at the table, but instead made a beeline for that giant gallon pitcher of coffee sitting there on the counter. As for a solid food, cereal sounded ever so delicious this morning. He collected everything he needed for his morning sustenance and sat in the last empty chair by the table, still not showing any interest in the other two.

He took a sip of coffee before constructing his food.

"Do you like it," Margaret asked him, trying her best to get something out of the little raccoon.

Rigby looked at her for a moment, unsure what to say to her. A full night's sleep helped his little psyche, but didn't really do anything for his personality. Still, he found that he wasn't as angry with her anymore as he was when he was in the hospital. His mood had downgraded from angry to just severally agitated, and in that case, he could live with her… for now… maybe.

"It's good," he said as he smiled weakly to her, though he really didn't mean it.

Rigby took another sip and glanced again at the red robin. She was smiling back.

* * *

Upon stepping outside to start what ever job they were to be assigned, they were greeted with a chilled breeze coupled with warm atmosphere. Looking up, they saw that the sun was out, but fighting for dominance over the day with some dark stormy clouds. They had a feeling it was only going to get colder later in the day.

"Think it'll rain," Margaret asked the raccoon.

"I hope so," he answered back to her, "I love the rain! I love the mud!"

A sly grin appeared on his face as memories of mud fights between himself and Mordecai in their younger days flowed into his mind. He eyed Margaret for a moment, realizing that whatever negative frustrations he had on her could actually be evaporated later in the day if the clouds have their way with the sun. The female recognized this instantly.

"I know what you're thinking," she said to him with a smile. Truthfully she didn't, but she did recognize a faint glimmer of mischief in his eyes.

Rigby couldn't help but widen his smile.

Benson approached them from behind with his clipboard of daily duties, and observed them both eyeing the sky. He glanced up at the sky himself and tried to figure out what was so special about the world above them. Finding nothing but clouds and broken blue sky, he returned his attention to the two of them.

"Listen up," he yelled, bringing the duo back down to earth, "I need you two to go and do some gardening."

Rigby raised his eyebrow, not sure what to say about that, while Margaret did her best to try and listen intently.

"Remember that giant hole you and Mordecai made behind the house a few weeks ago," he continued, "you know, the one that got me PUT IN JAIL!"

Margaret's eyes widened in shock as her vision skewed down at Rigby. The raccoon simply looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well," Benson added, "we finally got the thing filled in and I need you two to seed the ground and fertilize it, shouldn't take you more than an hour or two. When you're done, come see me for more work."

His eyes watched the two of them, trying to figure out if and how they could cock up this assignment. For the faintest of moments he saw Mordecai and Rigby, the idiots, standing there looking as innocent as ever before the fall, but realized that it wasn't Mordecai there and tried to give them the benefit of the doubt this time.

"Don't screw up," Benson finished as he walked away from the two of them. He stopped in his tracks a few seconds later to turn around and yell at them some more.

"And don't use too much fertilizer! Only use what you need to, and put the rest up."

He snuffed one more time and went along his daily business.

Margaret tried to look at the whole exchange from an outside view. Was this what Rigby and Mordecai had to deal with on a daily basis? No wonder they were always complaining about their boss.

"Don't use to much fertilizer," Rigby said in a high mocking voice. "He's just being cheap. Doesn't want us to use all of his precious fertilizer."

Margaret looked down at the raccoon questionably. "What? Does he buy the expensive brand or something?"

Rigby shrugged before saying, "I don't know".

When the red robin and raccoon finally reached their destination, not too far behind the house, they found that everything they needed had already been placed there: a hoe, some grass seed, a few bags of fertilizer, and a sprinkler already connected to a hose that was stretched all the way from the back of the house.

Margaret grimaced when she looked at the mess in front of them. How did Rigby and Mordecai make something like this? The hole must have been a quarter of a mile in diameter, god only knows how deep it was if it wasn't filled in with earth, and it smelled of something burning and out of this world. What had come out of this thing?

"Hey Rigby, what happ-"

"Don't ask," he cut her off, "just don't ask."

With only her imagination to guide her now, she tried to think of what made this thing and what could have come out. When a horrific theory crossed her mind, she shut it out. Instead of trying to figure out the what and the how, she just focused her attention to the task at hand and Rigby.

The raccoon smiled and whispered something under his breath before picking up a hoe.

"Alright hole," Rigby said in a playful voice holding the hoe like a weapon, "we meet again. Only this time, it's personal."

He dashed forward as fast as he could, screaming at the top of his lungs, stabbing the ground with the hoe and dragging it along the ground.

"How do you like that, HUH! Is that all you got?"

Margaret looked on in horror at first, but with a sort of excitement slowly growing in her belly the more she watched. It just amazed her how the raccoon was able to shift into this playful persona almost in an instant. It reminded her of when they were in the hardware store. She never had any real extended interaction like this with Rigby, so she just decided to do what she did last time. With a big bag of seed in hand, she took a deep breath, and began to scream as she ran along the filled hole spilling and throwing seed everywhere.

Rigby slowed down for a moment from his own imagination to observe her. He wasn't sure if she was mocking him, or if she was actually serious. But he was in too good a mood to debate that. He smiled again and returned to his assault.

They both screamed and ran around in circles, attempting to do their job as they played. While Rigby was randomly hoeing several random spots, Margaret at least made an attempt to keep herself planted in reality and seed every spot available on the ground, stopping from her fun to look back and make sure she got every spot available. When they both had their fill of their instruments, they grabbed a few bags of fertilizer and spread it all around the ground. All the while, never stopping their amusement.

"Hey," the red robin yelled at Rigby, "what are we doing again?"

"I don't know," the raccoon replied, "just screaming and stuff!"

She agreed with that bizarre statement and continued her playfully exotic dance. She wondered if maybe Mordecai did this exact same thing with his friend when they were in the middle of working. Or maybe he was the responsible one, and actually tried to get as much work done as possible. It was just another thing that weighed in on her mind. She thought that this might be a good way to maybe understand Rigby.

They both continued there futile act until finally, they both took a good long look at each other. The two suddenly saw how childish and out-of-place the other acted, and couldn't help it. Rigby was the first to spit out a laugh, with Margaret following suit after. Their loud laughter filled the air as they observed each other and how truly weird the other looked.

"I think we beat it," Rigby laughed looking at the hole.

Margaret nodded while lost in her own enjoyment.

The whole area looked even worse than when they had first got there. While Margaret had done a surprisingly good job spreading all the grass seed around the soil, Rigby had just randomly hoed and fertilized in a mish mosh manner. Some spots stood up high, while others lay flat to the ground, and a lot of the fertilizer seemed to have landed outside the filled hole as well. Even more so, every single bag of the fertilizer had been used in their little game; something that Benson explicitly told them not to do.

After calming down, they observed all this.

"Looks good to me," Rigby announced with his hands on his hips. He smiled at Margaret, trying to get her approval as well. The raccoon found himself warming up to her.

"Ya think," she questioned him looking at the mess. "Benson might get mad at us that we used all the fertilizer."

"He doesn't have to know," Rigby added as he began to pick up all the empty bags of fertilizer from off the ground. "I'll just throw 'em in the dumpster when we get back to the house. He's not dumb enough to go dumpster diving anyways."

She wasn't convinced, and neither would be Benson when he saw all of it. Not only was she sure he was going to realize all the fertilizer was "missing", but he would chastise them both for the effort of work they put into. Upon coming to this realization, she picked up the hoe Rigby was using earlier and quickly flattened and spread out as many of the uneven points as she could. No more than a minute later she was done.

Re-observing the landscape it looked slightly better at least. Margaret sighed and tried to look on the bright side.

"That's, um… better. I guess."

Rigby giggled at the red robin. "Man, girl, you got a set of lungs on you."

A smile crawled back onto Margaret's face. Rigby was beginning to like her. That was definitely something she wanted to hear.

"Thanks," she said to him. "We should probably go turn on the sprinkler."

They both then turned around and began to make their way back to the house.

"So," Margaret started, seeing this moment as an opportunity, "how long have you and Mordecai known each other?"

Rigby looked up at her and tried to see what she was getting at. "Since we were kids. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," she responded. "It's just that you two seemed so close to each other."

Rigby smiled and allowed himself to think of his best friend. "He's my bro! We're inseparable! No ones gonna tear us apart!"

He then glared directly at Margaret. "No one…"

She wasn't sure if that was directed at her, or if he was just trying to cement whatever relationship the two of them had going, or both.

"You're kind of defensive about him, aren't you," she added.

"I don't wanna talk about that," Rigby replied, his voice getting quieter.

They both walked in silence for a moment until they got back to the house. Rigby looked around sneakily as he quickly rushed over to the dumpster by the hose faucet and chucked the empty bags in them as quietly as possible, while Margaret gave a quick turn of the faucet causing the sprinkler to go up and about in the distance.

"Mission complete," Rigby screamed as he threw his arms into the air. He then turned to his female co-worker and brought his fist up. It floated there for a moment, before Margaret realized what he wanted. She bumped it with her own, causing him to scream and run around her in excitement.

It was adorable, but ultimately, kind of annoying. She wandered if Mordecai did this little song and dance after completing a chore as well.

Their celebration was cut short from the sound of some sort of gurgled moan coming from a nearby open window.

The raccoon and robin both grew curious of the sound and walked over to the source. They both slowly looked in, trying not to bring attention to themselves. The window led into the downstairs bathroom, and hunched over the toilet, breathing heavily with his head resting on the seat cover was Mordecai.

They both wasted no time in bringing themselves into the picture.

"Bro, you're awake!"

"Mordecai! How are you feeling?"

The blue jay nudged slightly and watched them. He gave them an ill smile before twitching sickly and dry heaving into the commode.

"He just got up," a figure said looming above him.

Rigby and Margaret were suddenly caught off guard, not noticing Benson standing over the blue jay.

"Before you ask, I found him crawling on the floor, trying to get to the bathroom. So I gave him a little help," Benson finished.

The two animals outside the window simply looked on as the bird continued to make loud retching sounds from his throat, whimpering between heaves.

"Did ya get the hole taken care of," the machine asked them approaching the window.

He quickly poked his head out the window, causing Rigby and Margaret to scurry aside while he observed their handy work from a distance. Nothing seemed out of place with the sprinkler on, and the mound did look like it had been evened out with the rest of the lawn. If he had only been closer, he would have found the edges a mess and would have been curious to the amount of fertilizer bags used in the process, but the place was too far away to acknowledge any of that, and he already had his hands full with Mordecai and the rest of the park, so he simply confirmed the job was done and let that be all.

"Good job," he said blankly, almost surprised that the job was done to a satisfactory level. For a split second, he began to ponder if maybe Margaret was a much better match for Rigby when work was involved. God knows they could only get little to zilch done when it was Mordecai in Margaret's place. He would have to think about that. Until then, he turned away from the window and made his way towards the bathroom door.

"I gotta go check up on Muscle Man and High-Five Ghost," he announced to the three of them, "hopefully they're actually doing their job today."

Benson quickly looked at the blue jay, before rolling his eyes. "When he's done making a mess of the toilet, put him back on the couch. I'll give you two some more chores when I get back."

The door slammed behind him, leaving Mordecai in his weakened state with Rigby and Margaret watching from the outside.

Rigby was the first to jump inside, placing himself next to his best friend and patting him on the back.

"You'll be okay, bro," he said gently.

All Margaret could do was observe them in quiet fascination.

When he had finished, the two lively ones grabbed the blue jay over their shoulders and drug him back to the couch. He complained about being hungry. The rest of the day passed by without a hitch.

* * *

Margaret had a dream that night. She dreamt she was back in the coffee house, serving up her usual cup of java to all the little angry ants that came her way. They literally were large and unhappy, very violent, angry ants. Each order was more difficult than the last, and every time she called for help, nobody came to her aid. For some reason though, she never felt panicked through the dream. She stayed calm and collectively finished every order at lightning fast speed. People cheered her on and called her one of the greats.

Benson approached her and told her that she was the best worker he had ever seen, with Pops behind him with a great big basket of goodies in his possession. Skips seemed to be skipping around the stage with several back up dancers behind him, skipping along to the music coming out of a brand new modern day, very expensive speaker. Muscle Man and High Five Ghost were dressed in their best, waiting for the yeti to finish performing so that they could start their stand up comedy act. Margaret was sure they would get booed off the stage. And then finally, sitting in their usual spot was Mordecai and Rigby. They both sat next to each, giggling about something stupid and childish, punching each in the shoulders for fun, and eventually locking hands with one another.

She smiled at the sight, finding it remarkably romantic; her mind was still stuck on the notion of the two of them together. Her own emotions got the better of her though, and she began to look around the room for someone to share the same feelings with. No one was there though. The only ones around the whole shop were her current co-workers and random faceless customers. Slasher wasn't even there for her.

A light bulb suddenly burst above her, sending small shards of glass on to the girl. She gasped and protected herself from the incoming attack. They bounced off her feathers and caused no damage to her relief. When she regained herself, everyone was gone. More so, the place was a mess; tables had been turned over, chairs thrown about, broken glass everywhere, and the whole place had gone dark save for some sparks dancing across the room.

She knew the scene, and wanted nothing to do with it. Her eyes closed immediately as she did her best to wake up. She kept herself in her own darkness, hoping that nothing would be there when she opened her eyes. That she would be back in the house, in the bed, with Rigby snoozing softly on his little trampoline.

But when she opened her eyes, she was greeted with the same world she wished to escape from. Something new caught her attention this time. She looked down onto the floor in front of the counter. Two lifeless bodies lay on top of one another, one with a puncture in his back, with the other one charred and blackened to a crisp.

Margaret took a step back from the scene, only to bump into someone behind.

"I'm finished with them," a shrill electrical voice said from behind her, "your turn."

She felt something latch onto her shoulders and something surged through her. The blowback caused her heart to skip a beat and force her to awaken.

The red robin jumped from her bed, allowing the sheets to fly off, and several red feathers to follow suit after words. She took a quick glance around the room to see if anything had changed. Whatever world she could recognize was only barely visible thanks to the electronic alarm clock on the counter next to the bed. She turned her attention to the other side of the room and was just barely able to make out a small bundle sleeping quietly on a trampoline.

Margaret took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She clutched onto her chest, feeling her rapid heartbeat and trying to gauge if she was going to be alright or not. When her heart finally slowed itself down, she released her chest and fell back onto her pillow. There was no way she could sleep. Actually, what she wanted to do was talk to Slasher, hell, anyone at that point to talk to would be great, but hey boyfriend was already on her mind so she stuck with that. Remembering there was a phone downstairs in the kitchen; she hopped out of bed and rushed out the door.

As she made her way quickly down the stairs, she was greeted by Benson, looking out the window into the darkness. She couldn't help but wonder what he was doing up in the middle of the night.

He heard the footsteps behind him, and turned to investigate the sound. His face was filled with worry as he saw the red robin.

"Hi Benson," Margaret said reaching the bottom step, "what are you doing up?"

"Have you looked outside," he said in a hurry.

Margaret shook her head and walked over to the window. Nothing but an infinite blackness as far as the eye could see lay in front of her.

"Are all the park lights out or something," she asked the gumball machine.

"No," he answered, "and the all the doors and windows are jammed too. I can't get outside to see what's happening. It's almost 7'am, the sun should almost be up by now."

Margaret quickly glanced over at Benson. Was it really that late? She was sure it still felt like the middle of the night, but she remembered that the window in the bedroom was lying to her as well. Something didn't seem right. "Another blackout," she thought to herself. It then occurred to her that the alarm clock in the bedroom was still lit up, and upon looking behind her, the kitchen light was active as well.

Everything felt too familiar. Her breathing began to steadily increase faster and heavier. She hurriedly looked around the room for anything that could suggest an electrical takeover: sparks, wiring, visible indoor lightning, anything!

Benson took a deep breath himself and tried to calm down. "Wake everyone up. Get them into the kitchen, now!"

"I… I need," Margaret tried to start, "I need to make a phone call real quick."

The gumball machine stopped and cocked a glassy eyebrow at her. "Call whoever it is your need to talk to after you wake everyone up, we need to-"

"Please," she beckoned Benson. Real fear covered her face, and Benson knew this.

He nodded to her and made his way up the stairs to Pops and Rigby's bedrooms.

The red robin wasted no time after that, speedily heading to the kitchen phone, picking it up, and trying hard to remember her boyfriend's number by heart. She needed someone to talk to at that very moment, someone that she had an emotional connection with and could rely on. But it wouldn't help her either way.

The phone was dead.

Pops and Rigby were corralled into the kitchen a few minutes later, both still hazy from their sudden departure of nightly sleep. Pops yawned and did his best to stay awake, but kept nodding off, while Rigby grinded his teeth and complained in anger by the very notion of Benson waking him up at this time of night. The gumball machine had thought about waking up Mordecai, who was still sleeping happily on the couch, but decided against it.

"We have a problem," Benson said looking at the two other males at the table. Margaret was sitting on the floor, with her back against the wall, and the dead phone hanging above her, attention fully on Benson.

"When do we never," Rigby sarcastically retorted.

Benson turned purple almost immediately. He was not one to be messed with right now.

"What appears to be the problem, Benson," Pops sleepily said doing his best to keep awake.

"It's dark outside," the gumball machine responded.

"What," Rigby screamed at the top of his lungs, "I got woke up in the middle of the night for that!"

"Dude," yelled a voice from the other room, "keep it down! Some of us are still trying to sleep!"

The raccoon's eye twitched as he grunted under his breath. He then jumped down from his chair, and walked into the living room, stopping at the couch with his now woken up friend.

"Move over," the raccoon demanded, "I'm going back to bed, and I don't feel like climbing the stairs."

"Get your furry butt back in here," Benson ordered, "and it's not the middle of the night, its 7'am!"

Rigby rolled his eyes, complained under his breath, and followed his boss's orders.

"Something isn't right if it's all pitch black outside, but we still have electricity," he continued.

The raccoon stopped in his tracks halfway back to the table and went wide eyed. Mordecai even sat up from the couch in realization. They looked at each other for a moment, and then over to Margaret who was still curled up against the wall. She shrugged at the two of them, and gave them a "could it get any worse" sort of look.

"Do we know for a fact that the city's blacked out again," Mordecai quickly asked, regretting saying it a moment later as a nauseated feeling enveloping his stomach.

"No we don't," Benson answered trying to wrap his head around the situation, "and Margaret has made it apparent to us that the phones are dead."

They all looked at the red robin again, as she just gave a fake smile and went back to feeling bad. Not like anyone blamed her, especially Rigby and Mordecai who were in the middle of that same feeling now.

"I can't get any of the doors or windows open either, so whatever it is, it's not letting us leave."

Just then a crunching sound roared across the house, shaking the foundation, causing the electricity to flicker. Everyone was startled for a moment as the vibrations of the house calmed. They all looked above them and side to side, wondering what had just happened.

Benson was only taken a back for a second, trying to remain calm through the whole ordeal.

"We need to get outside," he said standing up from table.

"How shall we do that though," Pops asked, fully awake now.

Benson shrugged. He didn't know what to do. Something about all this didn't add up. If he had an idea of what he was facing, he could at least come up with a solution to fix it, or at least know who to blame.

"I don't know," he said adding to his shrug, "any of you have any ideas?"

Rigby raised his hand almost immediately. Benson was shocked that the raccoon had an idea not only this early, but so fast too. He took it with a grain of salt, but allowed the raccoon to speak.

"What do you got," he asked Rigby.

Rigby smiled and brought his index finger up, symbolizing them to wait. He then jumped down from his chair, picked the seat up with all his might, and hurled it against the kitchen window with as much force as he could muster. Glass shattered as it fell onto the counter.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the gumball machine screamed.

Rigby turned to him with that same smile on his face.

"You asked for a way outside, so I gave it do you. If the doors and windows won't open then how else are we gonna get out of here?"

Benson was about to argue his case, but he found that the raccoon actually had a point.

Rigby then looked over to his blue jay friend and gave a thumbs up, which was then returned, though slightly hesitant.

The group turned their attention to the shattered open window now. They all got up, save Mordecai, and slowly crept toward the open darkness. Rigby was the first to arrive, jumping on the counter, and brushing the glass away from his feet. He then proceeded to reach his hand out to the darkness. It stopped as soon as he reached it. Everyone looked on confused, not knowing what was happening. As the raccoon pulled his hand away, the blackness fell from the window onto to his feet.

Benson quickly walked closer to examine what had just come out. He reached out and picked up a hand full of the stuff.

"Dirt?" he said in a questioning voice. It was just plain old dirt. "Have we been… buried?"

Everyone's heart jumped as a low fear turned into panic. How was it that the entire house could have been buried underneath the earth in such a small amount of time? That didn't add up.

"Ummm… guys," Rigby said still looking at the shattered window.

The group looked back at the window. The darkness was no longer there and had been replaced by long thick ropes of bright green.

"What in the…," Benson tried to cough out. Now he really didn't know what to think.

Rigby allowed his curiosity to get the better of him, and reached out to touch the green in front of him. It was cold on his paw.

The green suddenly pulsed itself, and wiggled itself awake. The raccoon pulled his hand back quickly, but was stopped as a piece of green instantly coiled itself around his wrist. He then glanced at everyone around him, knowing what was coming next. It tugged hard on him and began to pull him through the in betweens of the rope.

Everyone jumped instantly, again save for Mordecai, who when he tried to react, fell from the couch to the floor.

Margaret was the first to help. Seeing the raccoon being pulled into the unknown thing in front of them, she quickly grabbed him by his legs and pulled as hard as she could.

"Don't let go, don't let go," Rigby screamed loudly.

Margaret tugged and pulled as hard as she could, but still found herself being pulled in along with Rigby. She felt someone wrap their arms around her waste, and turned her head around to find Benson doing his very best to try and pull along with her. Pops followed along shortly, with Mordecai offering support from the sidelines.

A large mouth opened in the green, allowing a vast amount of clear ooze to leak out and spread out on the counter in front of them, eventually falling onto the floor.

"I don't wanna die," Rigby screamed with tears forming in his eyes.

"You say that nearly every time something like this happens, and you're not dead yet," Benson responded to him, "now shut up and let us pull!"

Words of comfort were never Benson's strong point, though it did help Rigby a little knowing that the gumball machine was making an attempt to help him. But just as Benson took a step back, his foot slipped on the wet ooze that had found its way onto the floor, causing him to lose his grip on the red robin, falling back against Pop as they both toppled to the floor.

In that instant, the pull became too much for Margaret and she was lifted off the floor, and pulled into the vortex along with Rigby.

_In a Matter of Speaker – Nouvelle Vague_

**Author's Notes**

Geez... I was afraid I wasn't going to have this finished by the time I needed it posted. Even if I've had it done for a few weeks, I had never once proofed it until today. It's been a crazy week for me, not to mention that I rewrote chapter eleven for the fourth time. Ugh... I'm two weeks behind on my writing. I'm a grinch around the holidays. Oh well. I'm just happy this chapter is finished right now.

_So Until Next Chapter…_

_Adieu…_


	9. Caring is Creepy

**Chapter Nine**

**Caring is Creepy**

Whatever pathway they had been pulled through only lasted for a few moments as light beamed out in front of them, and they were ejected from the other side.

Both were thrown out, hitting grass before sliding along the ground.

Rigby and Margaret laid there, catching their breath, and trying to figure out where they were, or even what just happened. There was a bright blue sky above them, with darkened clouds scattered about doing their very best to hide the sun. The cool ground beneath them felt soft and rough at the same time, leading them to believe that they had just been pulled outside.

"Well that was weird," Rigby finally coughed out.

Margaret quietly nodded and picked herself up from off the ground. She didn't feel like talking, but felt the need to whimper a bit when she noticed that she was covered in that same clear goo from earlier. She let out a few "eww" noises before trying to scrape the gunk off her feathers. Her day had just started and now she was covered from head to toe with this disgusting liquid.

Rigby didn't seem to mind at first, looking from arm to arm, and then down at his torso and leg areas. He flicked his fingers toward the ground, expecting the blobs to fly off, only to find them hit the ground and bounce back with everything sticking to it.

"Awesome," he said with a smile, "we got sticky powers! I love it!"

"Well I don't," Margaret argued, "ugh, it's not coming off."

The raccoon didn't care as he playfully rolled around on the dirt and grass, allowing everything loose on the ground to cling to him. But his attention was pulled away from the ooze as he noticed something else across from them.

"Uh, Margaret," he said wide eyed at the structure in front of him.

"What? What is it?" she asked in response, still failing to get any of the ooze off of her feathers and clothes.

The raccoon pointed in the direction of the house. Margaret looked up and gasped at what she saw.

In front of them was the house, or at least should have been the house where they slept and lived. Not a single bit of the structure could be seen, as the same green strands that pulled them through the window covered the place from top to bottom, not letting a single bit of light in or out. What made it all so horrifying was that the house was constantly moving and pulsating, like snakes coiled around one another. It then occurred to the two what they were looking at. The house had been completely surrounded by normal everyday…

"Vines," Margaret yelled. "They're just vines!"

It was true. Green vines covered the house. Well, to be more precise it was vines and ivy, but they didn't seem to care at that moment exactly what they were. What they knew was that gardening had wrapped all the way around the house, constricting it and anyone else from getting in or out. And yet, the two of them seemed to have gotten out of the house just fine. They hadn't just escaped from there, they were removed forcefully. They weren't sure if luck was on their side or if the Earth had some sort of vendetta against them.

"Where are they all coming from?" the red robin continued. She observed the base of the house for any clues. None of the vines were coming from the ground underneath. They all seemed to be circling around to the back.

"Oh, no…," Margaret realized. "No, no, no, no, no!"

She repeated her exclamation over and over again as she made a mad dash around the back of the house to confirm her suspicions.

"Where ya goin'?" Rigby asked as he followed along with her.

She didn't answer. She only prayed that she was wrong and that it was some sort of freak accident that caused this to happen.

When they finally looped around the back, they found who the culprit was.

"I was right," Margaret grimaced in horror, "it was our fault."

In front of them was the covered hole they had worked on the other day. No longer was it pressed flat and evened out to look nice, but instead had hundreds, maybe thousands, of vines growing out of it, all of them slowly creeping their way into the house, and some of them even to various locations around the park. Surrounding the vines were a strange purple discolored grass that shook violently as Margaret and Rigby stepped in it. Rigby swore he heard the grass at his feet laughing as he pressed his foot down.

The raccoon and the red robin looked at the mess in front of them and tried to figure something to say to one another. Anything would have helped.

"Whoops," was the only thing Rigby could get out of his mouth.

"How did this happen?" Margaret tried to figure out, "fertilizer shouldn't have done this much damage. Should it?"

She turned her sights to Rigby, hoping he could try to explain it better than she could. All he could do however was just look back at her and shrug his shoulders. Both of them were at a loss for words.

Something did seem to be out of place though. All the vines were moving, or twitching, or pulsating in one way or another, except for one. The robin looked down at the ground at this vine quizzically, and knelt down to pick it up. On further examination, she noticed it wasn't a vine, it was the hose. She went wide eyed as her eyes followed the path of the hose in front of her. It lead directly to the center of the mound, where a large bottomless pit seemed to have dug itself, an area which she did not want to even try looking down, where the sprinkler dangled dangerously close to the edge, still spewing water at full blast.

"We forgot to turn off the sprinkler," she screamed. "Too much fertilizer AND too much water! It's grown out of control!"

Rigby noticed it too, and looked behind himself toward the back of the house.

"I got it," he yelled as he quickly dashed toward the house. Margaret followed suit, not wishing to stay anywhere near the growing horror.

When the two made it to the facet, Rigby grasped the knob in his furry hand ready to turn it off. "Let's see how well you grow without your precious water!"

But before he could turn the sprinkler off, a vine ripped from the ground, and hurdled itself toward the raccoon. It slammed itself against Rigby's chest, knocking all the air out of him, before coiling itself around his body. It then continued to push him off the ground, eventually forcing him into the air. It kept wrapped around the raccoon's chest, soared him through the sky and all around the park, until finally it slammed the young man into a tree trunk with all its might. Seeing the enemy subdued, the vine relinquished its hold on Rigby and slithered its way back to the house.

Not only was Rigby out of breath from the initial impact, but now he had an aching pain running down his body... again. He let out an "ouch" before trying to regain his composure. When he looked around, he found that he had been dropped off right at the entrance to the park. He looked at himself and noticed the slam against the tree had launched all of the ooze on him clear off. The raccoon groaned slightly at the loss of his new toy.

"What a crappy week."

Meanwhile at the house, Margaret's mood shifted from worry to panic. These past few days had been nothing but stressful to her. If she had taken the time to examine her body, she would have found a fully grayed feather near her tail. Now was not the time to be concerned with that though. The sprinkler needed to be turned off first so that thing couldn't get any stronger. Then she could wallow in self pity about her life.

She reached out her hand to turn the knob, but stopped mid reach, but not of her own free will though. Something had stopped her from reaching her arm out any further to the facet. She pulled and tugged at her arm and found that she could bend her elbow just fine. There was something wrong with her hand.

The sensation hit her right then. It was sharp and painful and came rushing through the palm of her hand. She tried to pull away, but her hand wouldn't move. It remained suspended in the air in front of her. The pain rushed through the mid point of her hand now, stabbing and moving through the muscle and wing bone. One was unbearable enough, but then a second, third, even fourth one appeared in slightly different parts of her palm all at once.

"Let go," she screeched.

The red robin tried to turn her back and run away from it, but her hand held her in place, and she fell, her hand still unmoving all the while. As she fell to the ground, they caught her eye. The purple discolored grass had instantly grown high above their normal length and had penetrated the bird's feathers and flesh. Margaret wanted to scream at the top her lungs, but the pain kept her from doing anything other then grit her beak and bellow in agony. She felt the first "blade" of grass pierce the other side of her hand. Margaret picked herself back up right as she was feeling the other three break the skin on the top of her hand.

They continued to grow through, wrapping themselves around her wrist, and tightening their hold on. And then, she heard the laughing. They were laughing. Grass was not supposed to laugh like that. Grass wasn't even supposed to laugh period! Margaret watched the things make their way toward her elbow and up to her shoulder, getting closer to her face. The closer they got, the more defined their characteristics were. The one thing that stood out to her than anything else though, were the mouths. Each sliver of grass held hundreds upon hundreds of tiny laughing mouths on them, each one with sporting a full set of teeth.

"Mama…," they spoke in a child's voice, "are you our mama?"

Did it just talk? It seriously just talked. That was enough. Margaret snapped. She pulled and tugged away from them with as much force as her body could possibly muster. Fear and panic coving every inch of her face. She felt like her body was going into shock.

_"Mama?"_

_"Where are you going, mama?"_

_"Are you taking us somewhere?"_

_"Mamamamamama!"_

_"Are you gonna be our new mama?"_

_"When do we get to meet papa, mama?_

_"Can we go someplace fun, mama?"_

_"Can I have a glass of water, mama?"_

_"Does it hurt, mama?"_

_"Does it hurt?"_

_"Does it hurt?"_

_"Does it hurt?"_

_"Does it hurt?"_

_"Does it hurt?"_

_"Do you want it to hurt?'_

There was a click within the robin's brain as it unconsciously turned itself off and forced the body to go into auto pilot. Her psyche couldn't take any of this anymore and refused to cooperate. The ooze she was still covered in was one thing, but these things? Margaret then knelt down, grabbed the purple grass at its roots, and ripped them straight out of the ground. Every mouth let out an unearthly scream that could be heard far and wide. The strands on her arm then shriveled up and died an instant later.

After regaining control of her hand (and pulling out the grass through her hand), she took the opportunity and lunged for the facet knob. Unfortunately, she came up short again, as several hundred blades of purple grass formed a shield around it.

"Why does mama hate us?"

She looked around at her feet and saw more grass growing beneath her, ready to attack her and pin her in place. Margaret jumped away and ran from that location as far as she could, the children laughing behind her as she did.

"Come back mama!"

She didn't care where she was going, as long as it was far away from there. The only thing she cared about at that moment was self preservation. There was nothing she could do there now. The only thing that she could do was escape from there and get help later. She would take the coward's way out. Her feet flew faster than her mind could think, carrying her to places in the park she had not yet seen, and in directions she could not predict. It was like her body was in overdrive and had no intention on listening to any suggestions the exhausted brain might give out.

In the distance, she could see the confused and still slightly woozy Rigby, leaning against a bruised tree trunk. The park entrance was right there too. In one quick motion as she passed, she snatched up the raccoon into her arms and dashed out of the park without tripping up once.

She ran as fast as she could through the city, not stopping once, not caring about the people she rudely almost hit, and not caring about the incoming traffic that could very well kill herself and her little raccoon friend.

"Hey," Rigby yelled finally realizing that he had been abducted, "what are you? We need to get back to the park and save Mordecai!"

He struggled trying to get out of her grasp, stopping suddenly when he noticed that some of his fur had been stained red. A slightly darker shade of red than of her feathers was leaking out of her palm in several places. Rigby looked behind her to see she was dripping blood onto the concrete.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

She didn't hear him. The only thing she cared about was distancing herself from those things. An ideal location crossed her mind as she passed a familiar street sign. Her old apartment was still vacant! She was still paying rent on it for the month since she had the intention of moving back into the place, or at least until Benson offered her a permanent position of some sort. It was clear across town, but at the rate she was going, she would be there in just a little under an hour. Her feet refused to give in until then.

As she turned the corner, she accidentally bumped into a pair of lovers holding hands, nearly losing her balance and falling to the ground.

"Sorry," she said regaining herself. Though in the split second that she returned to her sprint, she looked over her shoulder to get a good look of the faces of the people she nearly injured. Her mind didn't process it at first, but she knew who one of them was. Instead of reacting though, she just kept running and running.

Rigby watched her the whole time. At first, all he could see was the fear on her face. The fear of wanting to escape from the weird plant creature they had both accidentally created. But the more he observed, the more he could tell that it was something else entirely. It hit him that this wasn't like her at all. Margaret could handle the most difficult of situations and remain calm and collected through everything. That much he knew of her. Sure, she still needed time to rest like everyone else, but who didn't? No, this was something different all together.

The door to the apartment complex Margaret originally lived at flew open, as she made a beeline for the stairs, disregarding the elevator completely. She allowed herself a moment to mentally yell that her place just had to be on the sixth floor. The stairs themselves seemed to be less difficult going up this time around than on the days she used to climb up and down when the elevator was busted for some reason or another.

She ran out of the stair well through the door with the giant number six on its front, dashed straight down the hallway, stopping at number 609 at the end of the hallway, looking underneath a welcome mat she had placed there when she moved in, found the key inside the stuffing, jammed it into the lock, swung the door open, ran inside, and locked it behind her. The world turned quiet for a few moments before she realized that she was home.

Rigby was then gently placed on the floor.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," Margaret muttered silently, her pupils still dilated and filled with fear. "Just make yourself at home, 'K?"

She then pulled herself away from the closed door and slowly slid to the bathroom, located just across the end of the room. The slime covering her stuck to the hard wood surface of the floor and absorbed itself into the carpet she had next to a run down, dirty couch. All of them pieces of furniture that came with the apartment. She took a few choice glances around the room and did her best not to let her emotions get the best of her and destroy the place. There was a guest there, after all.

The bathroom itself was very regular. It contained a bathtub with an optional shower head, a used sink with a couple of removable stains cake on, a toilet for the usual practices, and a bathmat next to the tub. Closing the door behind her, she began to do her best to try and strip herself of the now ruined tank top and favorite pair of jeans she had on. Finally stripping them off and leaving her body exposed, she chucked the clothes into the tub and jumped right in with them, proceeding to turn on the hot and cold shower water to full blast hoping to get some sort of balance.

She shivered at first as the cold water hit her feathers, later changing to a mild warmth that relaxed her body. The ooze surrounding her was no match for inner city apartment water apparently as it just simply fell to the floor of tub and washed away. It made her feel so much better physically. Mentally, on the other hand, she found herself repeatedly taxing the situation.

Margaret stood there in the tub, letting the shower water hit her, trying to suppress the demons inside her. But the more she tried to do this, the stronger they came back in full force: the stress of putting the stage together, watching Mordecai, Rigby, and herself be tortured by an electrical hellion, losing her job, gaining a new one, screwing up the first assignment that she had been asked to do, wandering about the relationship of the blue jay and raccoon, trying to make a good first impression on everyone, EVERYTHING! She could handle all of that though. Everything that had transpired in front of her the past few weeks was nothing that she couldn't handle. She was even able to stay brave in the face of the Iacedrom, who threatened to do terrible things to her. So why did she run away?

That's what she kept on asking herself over and over again. She could have handled all the pain that those abominations were able to give out, and fight on to save the day, or at least hope that she could try and save the day. But something inside her this time just told her to run far away as fast as she possibly could. Everything within her began to culminate and it became too difficult to keep it in anymore.

The thing that drove her truly over the edge though, were those people she bumped into on the way to her apartment. She knew who it was, and didn't want to believe it at first, but somehow knew she saw it coming. The bastard, he always had to have some sort of arm candy. She hadn't spoken to him in a little under three days and this is how he reacts to that? Margaret wanted to hunt him down, scream at him, curse at him, beat him up, throw him to the ground, tell him how he would never find anyone better, and that she was just completely better off without him.

Her body gave out, and she slumped to the tub floor. The shower water pelted her face and beak, little droplets sliding down her chest and body.

"So, ummm…"

She looked over at the door of the bathroom, to find Rigby standing under the arch, looking at her with a stone face. Margaret was beginning to wonder if he ever cared about anyone else besides himself and Mordecai.

"You were, ummm… bleeding," he continued as he pointed to a splotch of crimson on his fur.

Margaret leaned over the rim of the tub to try and get a closer look. When Rigby saw this, he scooted closer to her to help her see. She brought up a wet wing and grazed the stained fur, causing the raccoon to jump back.

Rigby took the moment to look at her face. Even with the shower water running on full blast, she looked tattered and worn out. Her eyes were dead with no spark of life left in them either, and her body looked hunched and exhausted. The raccoon actually felt a little sorry for her, but only just a little.

"So," he tried to start, "are… you alright?"

He really put no effort or emotions into his words. Only saying them to try and show her that he had at least a little empathy for her, even if only a small bit.

Margaret then suddenly reached over the tub and grabbed the little raccoon pulling him into the line of the water spray.

"Hey! Hey! What are you doing!"

She clasped her arms around him and brought him close to her chest.

"Stop," he pleaded while struggling, "I don't like this!"

"I know," she whimpered, "I know I'm not Mordecai, and I know you don't like me a whole lot. But just…"

She struggled with her words, doing her best not to cry. The one thing she hated to do was cry.

"I just need this. Just for a minute."

Rigby was about to complain again, but remembered the times he felt the same way, and how Mordecai would let the raccoon hang on to him in a time of need. He blinked, and remembered their embrace.

The raccoon didn't like Margaret a whole lot. He tolerated her at most, and hated her for what she was able to do to Mordecai's emotions. But somewhere in the middle of all of it, he compromised and let her have this one thing. She held the raccoon close to her for close to hour before letting go of him without a word and stepping out of the shower into the living room, still sopping wet.

The one thing that Margaret liked to do right after a nice long shower was bypass the towel all together and plop down on the couch to allow nature to do its work for her. Instances that like ended up having sensual consequences when she did it around Slasher or any other men she had dated. But she didn't want to think about Slasher at the moment. Let the bastard run off with his new little hussy, she didn't care, though that was a bold faced lie. Of course she cared.

A cooling wave caused by stagnant apartment air washed over the robin as she sprawled herself out on the couch, nude from coming right out of the shower, and allowed herself to relax a moment. Rigby waltzed out of the bathroom a few seconds later, drying off his tail with a towel he found in the middle of the bathroom floor. He threw it in some random direction and approached Margaret on the couch. She noticed him coming towards her, and tried to force a grin.

"What an awful week," she sighed.

"Tell me about it," Rigby responded. He stopped halfway to the couch, and just kind of looked around the room. He wasn't sure what to think of the apartment. It reminded him too much of his room back at the house. There were used cloths gathering in a corner, barely any furniture scattered around, and with the exception of a small screen HDTV on a stand, it all seemed very regular.

"It's not very exciting," the red robin said, observing what Rigby was doing. "I keep meaning to go out and buy more stuff, but bills and rent kind of throw that out the window. The rent isn't bad for a furnished apartment though."

Rigby didn't say anything, only looking around the room. An empty condom wrapper caught his attention underneath the TV stand. He eyed it for a second before turning his attention back to Margaret.

She looked at him with uncomfortable eyes before getting up from the couch and walking over to the stand.

"I should really clean this place up," Margaret said as she bent down to pick up the wrapper. She gazed at it, trying to recall how it got there to begin with. But when the memory returned to her, and it had to do with Slasher, she crumpled it up and tossed it clear across the room angrily.

Margaret tried to remember for a moment what her now ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend looked like when she had passed them on the street, but only seeing them for a split second caused her mind to exaggerate all the proportions of her body and personality. Everything about this new woman seemed so much better and uglier than her. Something in her head told her that she was probably looking too far into this. Maybe that girl was his sister, or a friend, or a former teacher. But she knew the man's personality, and knew that wasn't the case. The red robin suddenly felt very unattractive about her self, and turned her attentions to Rigby.

"How do I look?" Margaret asked him in a weak voice.

The young man flinched at the question.

"Are you serious?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Completely serious," she answered, placing her hands on her hips.

Rigby could only imagine what she was implying. If Mordecai were there, he probably would have fainted already, or at the very least gotten a little too "excited". Margaret always wore clothes, so the idea of seeing her nude did leave some work up to the imagination. Though what Rigby saw was nothing that he hadn't already seen on Mordecai. They were both birds, so there really wasn't much to look at. All he could see was essentially Mordecai with a female build, red feathers, a pronounced chest, and a different personality.

"Like a drowned bird," Rigby answered quietly. The whole scene was wasted on him.

The girl in red laughed out loud. Rigby but wondered what was so funny.

"I figured you'd say that," she giggled. "I guess if I was Mordecai you'd say something different, huh?"

Rigby tilted his head upon hearing that, unsure what to think.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he glared her down.

"You know what I mean," she answered back to him still smiling. "Mordecai's got a good body! You can admit it."

Now he was really confused. Where did this all suddenly come from?

Margaret looked at the raccoon sincerely, before looking at her own body. "I mean, he and I have the same body type, but his has a more masculine build. I guess that's what you're more into, huh?"

She wanted to lighten the mood. Wanted to try and talk about something a little light hearted and get herself and the raccoon's spirits up. She was focused on her own attractiveness, and didn't feel like wallowing in self pity, so she decided to turn the attention on something less selfish. Even if it was something as simple as gawking over the blue jay's body.

"Wait a second," the raccoon stopped her. She was implying something, and he knew it.

"Something wrong?" she asked him, "I'm not embarrassing you, am I?"

He saw it in on her face and in her eyes. The sort of sly grin that was insinuating something, coupled with curious eyes that wanted to know everything. And it hit him all at once what she was getting at.

"Do you think that Mordecai and I are…," Rigby tried to ask. He actually couldn't finish the sentence. Something inside him was keeping him from saying that last word.

Margaret's curious expression wiped from her face and it was replaced with confusion. "Well, aren't you?"

They both looked at each other in awkward silence for a few passing moments before somebody finally said anything.

"WHAT!" the raccoon screamed.

A loud bang suddenly came from the wall farthest to them. "Keep it down in there," a voice from the other side bellowed.

Rigby returned his attention to the red robin. "What?" he said again in a quieter, still angered voice.

Margaret looked down at the raccoon timidly. "I mean…"

"We're not… that way," Rigby argued. "Why would you think that!"

This wasn't the reaction she was hoping. It wasn't even the reaction she was expecting. Or was it? She thought about his reaction before saying anything else. Maybe they just weren't "open" to anybody yet?

"Okay, so you're not together," she said using air quotes on the last word. The bird winked at him trying to get a smile to return to both their faces.

Rigby couldn't help but feel a little insulted by the sarcastic tone in her voice. She wasn't being honest.

"But you know," she continued, "you don't have to worry about me. I won't tell anyone."

And he was right. Rigby was sure he felt a wave of annoyance and anger making its way to the surface of his body.

"We're not a couple," he said as his voice steadily grew. "He likes lady pecs; how can you not notice that!"

The robin swallowed a lump in throat. "I thought you guys WERE a couple. You're always hanging out and doing these weird things, and laughing, and arguing… you're always together! I don't think I've ever seen you two apart except maybe once or twice."

Rigby didn't know what to say. His body was shaking all over, and thoughts of where to hide her body flooded his brain.

"Do we," he started up again, "do we really come off that way? Do you really think we're…"

Instead of finishing his sentence, which he should of, he instead did a silly little two second dance that seemed to be him just flapping his arms around. Margaret wasn't sure what that meant at first, but could only assume that it was this weird code for gay.

"So," she said in the same broken sentences as Rigby, "so you guys aren't together?"

"NO," he shrieked, "HE LIKES YOU!"

The loud banging from earlier came again. "Keep… it… down!"

Any thoughts of Mordecai that Margaret had previously went straight out the window when Rigby said this. What was so shocking wasn't that the blue jay had a crush on her, but that when she thinks back to all the time she's known him, it all adds up. Awkward conversations, him always trying to get to know her better, him getting embarrassed easily around her were all just him trying to admit that he liked her.

Margaret suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Not only had she assumed that these two were a happy little gay couple, but completely missed over the fact that one of them had been trying to hit on her for months. Her unsightly views of herself were washed away only to be replaced by a wave of stupidity that swept over her like a tsunami, making her feel like the dumbest person on the planet.

"How," she spoke to herself, "in the hell, did I not see it?"

Rigby clanked his teeth together and clenched his fists. "How the H should I know?"

This was definitely the "high point" of Margaret's week, probably the "high point" of her entire life. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, and not only did it go wrong, it was left to skip on a repeated loop like a broken record. Now, to top it all off, she had just discovered that she was a total idiot and might have just screwed up what little friendship she had with the two boys. Margaret quickly looked around the room for a nice dark place where she could curl up and die. Finding no such luck, she glanced at Rigby and noticed he still looked like he was fuming.

"Rigby," she said, "…heh… Oh god… I am so sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything. I was just…"

"SHUT UP," he screamed, "JUST SHUT UP!"

"Rigby I'm trying to apologize."

"I DON'T CARE!"

Another loud bang from against the wall. "Do I need to come over there and knock some sense into you," asked the voice from behind the wall in a very angry manner.

The one thing that Margaret forgot out of everything was that she wasn't the only one having a bad week. In fact, she was making one person's week worse simply by being there.

"I don't care if you're sorry," the raccoon screamed, his voice echoed in the apartment. "I don't care anything about you!"

Margaret took a step back, feeling every bit of the incoming verbal assault that Rigby was dishing out.

"How stupid are you! Mordecai's been crushing all over you for who knows how long, and this entire time you couldn't see it! You… you play with him, you toy with his emotions, and then, and then… and then you go and say that you think we're a couple of q…"

The words still couldn't come out, and he pursed his lips together when he couldn't continue. He wanted to say more and get it off his chest, but something inside him stopped him and he just didn't care anymore. In his mind, saying any of those words could be an admittance of at least entertaining the notion, maybe even making them true. And it was then that he realized that.

Margaret, not knowing this, shook her head and pleaded with the raccoon. "I didn't know. Really, I didn't mean to do any of those things with him, and didn't know about you two. I just… I just…"

"We're not like that," he said in a low sad voice.

Here it comes, Margaret thought. She was expecting the full onslaught of all of his pent up anger and emotions to come out in full force any second now.

"We're not like that," he repeated. Something stopped within him, and his features went vacant.

His fists unclenched, and his body went limp as he sat down on the floor in front of the robin. The raccoon didn't want to look at her anymore and turned his back to her, doing his best to try and hide his sudden realization.

He and Mordecai weren't together. They were just best friends who had been like that since they were children. Mordecai was the only friend that ever stuck around with Rigby till this point, and that kept him happy. But till now, he didn't realize why the bird meant so much to him. Why every time something death defying happened he always thought of his friend first, and why Mordecai was the only person in his life he would ever put himself in front of to protect him.

All these years he had denied any sort of "feelings" he had for anyone. The whole world scared him. So much anger and jealousy directed at him. Sure, he had been part of that too, but it seemed like a lot of it was always directed at him. No one ever wanted to hear his side of the story, and if they did, they thought he was lying. Even more so, were the people who he called friends who inevitably forgot about him when something bigger and better came along. But even with the world scaring him to pieces, the notion of love scared him even more. The idea of giving ones self completely away to another, so that they could know your secrets, keep you around, and memorize every little detail about your body and mind scared the raccoon half to death. The more he thought about it, the more he remembered that all the girls and boys he had ever met in his life, he never had a true attraction to them. Mordecai always told him he would grow into it when he was older. Rigby couldn't help but think he was finally right. He did grow into loving someone, just not the person he expected.

The relationship that he and Mordecai shared seemed to go beyond that of a friendship, but didn't include all the closeness of a romance. He always thought that they were bros, and that was that. But bros don't do a lot of the things that they ended up doing sometimes. That kind of stuff went further than that he thought. All the ideas of a romantic love, didn't they share all that already? Rigby suddenly thought of the "what ifs" and the "why is that" and everything else in between.

"It'd be a lot easier if we were," he whispered. It wasn't as much admittance to his issues, but more of a statement. Rigby wanted to stay in denial as long as possible, if it was even denial to begin with. He wasn't sure. His head erupted into a severe splitting headache, as he grabbed his skull with both his hands and tried to get the pain to stop. Too many voices.

Margaret only barely heard what he said. She took a deep break and knelt down onto the floor, placing herself right next to the raccoon. Seated there, she didn't know what to say or what to do. He seemed sad, but she knew he didn't like hugs (unless it was Mordecai), and anything she would try to say he would just throw right back at her with venom and hatred. She was beginning to understand why the little guy had so much built up animosity towards her. Still, she had to try something.

"Well… DO you like him," she asked Rigby, "that way?"

"No," he quickly countered turning to look at her and shaking his head. "I mean yes… I mean… I don't know."

"But, you know he might not like you that way-"

"Like me what way," Rigby snapped, getting defensive, "like me as a friend, as a raccoon? Does he like me as a bro or just some guy? Do you think he would like me enough to F me, is that what you think!"

"I didn't mean anything-"

"He's my bro! He's my best friend! That's it! Do you like him! Hmmm? Do you? Hmm-Hmm-Hmm?"

She didn't want to press him for anything else. She knew this was the first time he actually thought about it at great length, and didn't want to pressure him any further.

"Do you!" he screamed at her.

Her gaze turned away from him to look around the apartment. It's not that she didn't want to look at him, but more so that she had never really thought about it either. She knew she had a small crush on the two of them, but that was back when she assumed otherwise. Now, she didn't know what to feel.

"I actually," she began, "like the both of you, in that way… I guess."

Rigby could only look at her as she refused to meet his eyes.

"I think you both are great people," she continued looking down at her feet. "And if you're asking me if I had to choose between the two of you in that way..."

She took in a deep breath. "…I honestly like you better than him."

That wasn't the answer he was expecting. He was expecting some sort of full unfulfilled romance that she had bottled up deep inside her. Some sort of confession about how much she had loved the blue jay but refused to ever tell him out of shyness or some crap like that. Rigby thought about that answer, and recognized that that story may have been more about him self than her, though he never saw the red robin as shy in his eyes.

"Why me?" he asked in a squeak.

Margaret smiled, finally returning to meet the eye contact of the raccoon. "I guess I always liked men who don't do what they're told, or are too crazy for their own good."

"I'm not crazy," Rigby defended.

"I know, but you act like it."

He couldn't argue with that. Even he knew how much of a handful he could be some times.

"You guys," she continued, "you never saw me or hung out with me outside of the coffee shop that often, maybe a few times here and there, but not for long periods anyways. I'm more like you than Mordecai. I guess I like to live a little more dangerously."

The bird put her arm around the raccoon and pushed him in close to her.

"But as for Mordecai," she said, pausing for a moment before persisting. "I think he's alright. Would I date him? Sure. Given the option would I take you first though?"

She giggled under her breath and nodded to him.

Rigby felt a little better about himself actually. True he had just maybe, probably, just did, did not realize some hidden feelings for his best friend, but he also just found out that while Margaret did like Mordecai in that way (he didn't like hearing that part), he found out that she was actually more interested in him self. He suddenly felt a little more attractive.

"Well," the raccoon coughed out, "if I did like you in that way… I would like you in that way."

He knew how stupid that sounded, especially when Margaret began to laugh loudly, but he couldn't help but feel a little better about everything now. Margaret too felt a little more airy than usual, and enjoyed the moment they were having. He joined in with her laughing at himself. It was the first time in a while he actually didn't take himself seriously.

"You're, uh," Rigby tried to say, "you're very… pretty."

Margaret stopped laughing after hearing this. Her smile reached all the way across her face.

"Thank you," she expressed. Her armed moved from around him and on to his head and she began to pet the softness. "I like your fur. It's really warm."

"Thanks," he answered honestly, enjoying the little bit of pampering he was getting.

They both sat there in silence, simply enjoying each others company. At that very second, the two finally realized who the other person was and appreciated them for it. And while Margaret was used to doing it with many people, it was hard for Rigby to admit that she wasn't a bad person after all.

The raccoon actually purred from the attention he was getting from the female. He was beginning to think that it wasn't so bad, until he felt a fist slam into his shoulder.

"Owww," he screamed out loud. His arm instinctively rushed to the injury and tried to rub the pain away. "What was that for!"

"For calling me stupid a few minutes ago," Margaret said with a smug smile on her face.

Rigby grunted angrily, but knew that he deserved it.

The robin smiled at him, while he responded with a half hearted one. She picked herself up from off the floor and began walking toward the front door.

"Where are ya going," the raccoon ask her.

"Where do you think I'm going," she answered, "back to the park. We still got save Mordecai, right?"

Rigby was then up off the floor and ready for action. It was remarkable how the raccoon was able to change his emotions on the fly like that. Margaret couldn't help but feel a little green with envy. She wished she had the ability to turn her feelings on and off like that.

"Oh yeah," the raccoon said completely forgetting about his friend, "we're gonna show that garden, ivy, vine, thingy a thing or two about who's house to cover in grass or something like that… I got nothin'."

Margaret laughed again. "I know what you mean. C'mon."

"Hey wait," Rigby stopped her, "aren't you gonna put on any clothes?"

She looked at him with a somewhat seductive look on her face. "You and Mordecai strut around all day without any clothes on. Why can't I?"

Rigby rolled his eyes and walked over to the door with her. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," she answered, "though to tell the truth, I'll probably regret it as soon as I step foot outside this apartment."

Rigby laughed. Even after the pleasant and understanding moment they shared, there was still some part of him that enjoyed watching her suffer.

_Caring is Creepy – The Shins_

**Author's Notes**

Well this chapter was all over the place wasn't it? Interesting story, the end of this chapter was actually the start of the next chapter, but I moved it over to this chapter cause if I had kept it in Chapter Ten then that chapter would have been 10000+ words. Yikes! I hope you all enjoyed the interaction between Rigby and Margaret as well! Next chapter is almost 100% action, so start anticipating!

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	10. Fool Cross Over Nirvana

**Chapter Ten**

**Fool Cross Over Nirvana (Grudge Prohibited)**

The duo knew they had to be prepared for the battle that was in front of them, so the best course of action was to equip themselves with any weapon they could get their hands on, or at least whatever their pooled together amount of $14.27 could get them. Luck smiled on them though when they found the hardware store was having a sale on gardening supplies. How convenient.

"Who sells an axe for six dollars?" Margaret commented scanning the bladed weapon in her hands through an automated check out line.

"I don't know," Rigby answered, "but check out these cool titanium hedge clippers!" He held up an extremely large pair of clippers over his head. The weight, however, got the better of him as he toppled backwards onto the tile floor of the store.

"Maybe you should get some smaller ones," Margaret said as she bent down to pry the tool from the raccoon's hands. She had to admit, the thing was surprisingly heavy.

"What?" he complained, "why would I do that? The bigger the better, right?"

His usual smile appeared on his face as he thought about what he was going to so with the plant like abomination in the park. Margaret allowed her self to listen to the raccoon's ranting and slid the clippers through the scanner. $10.85 altogether. "Not too shabby," Margaret said to herself.

Moments later, the two of them found themselves by the front entrance of the park, looking nervous and still disconnected from earlier. They knew they had to do what was right, and fix the mess that they both started. Truthfully, they just wanted to save Mordecai and get the hell out of there, but if they could get away with saving the park and everyone else as well, it would be a nice added bonus.

They both stared up at the archway into the park, and looked inside toward the distance. Margaret could see that the horrid purple grass had begun to spread itself out, and had covered nearly half the park. Rigby looked at all the trees and noticed some of the vines and ivy had wrapped themselves around the trunks, slithering and pulsing along the wood. The raccoon giggled as a sick thought crossed his mind, but wiped it from his brain as he tried to stay focus.

"Are you ready?" Margaret asked her smaller friend, clenching the handle of the axe in the palm of her hands.

"No," Rigby answered as he clipped the air with his weapon, still trying to keep balance behind him while he held the giant hedge clippers in front. "Are you?"

"No," the female repeated his answer. "Wanna go in anyways?"

Rigby looked up her and donned a serious action-hero type expression. "H yes!"

Margaret nodded to him and tried to copy his face before the both of them sprinted under the archway, into the park, there hardcore expressions fading as they entered.

A sudden burst of adrenaline shot through their hearts as they ran forward into the battlefield. Everything seemed to go swimmingly at first. Nothing attacked them and everything seemed to remain relatively normal, up until they got to the discolored grass that had spread beyond the house. Their feet touched the purple growth, and a symphony of discord laughter erupted from the ground.

"Mama came home!"

Margaret's blood pressure rose, no longer out of fear or stress, but in shear anger at these repulsive little creatures. As she continued her run toward the house, she began to occasionally twist the bottom of her foot as she plowed across the field of purple, tearing into the grass and pulling some of them from the roots. Each ghastly scream of pain they let out was music to her ears. She had no intention of ever being called "mama" again, even from her own future children if she ever had them.

The ground began to shake violently as the grass grew exponentially high all around them, trying to trap them. They attacked in drones of hundred strands usually, doing their best to stop them in place, or trip them up, hoping for the two of them to fall and be tied to the ground. The field didn't count on Rigby though, screaming at the top of his lungs as he flayed through the tall grass with ease.

_Snip Snip_

The infant grass screamed even louder than before as hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of grass strands fell beneath the hand of the raccoon.

All that screaming caught the attention of all the vines wrapped around the trees and benches in the park. Several of the green rope uncoiled itself from its home and lashed out at the raccoon. The first one grabbed Rigby by his foot, causing him to lose his balance and fall. The second and third one disarmed him of his tool and chucked it far away to the side of the lawn, somewhere he couldn't reach. The fourth vine grabbed his other leg and lifted him up high into the air with the others helping. They knew who this little furry person was. They could feel every inch of him self and recognized the shape and form. The four vines agreed that the best course of action was to eliminate the intruder and then focus on "mama".

But as their thoughts drifted to pulling apart the raccoon, limb from limb, an axe came down upon each vine, slicing apart from their body, and freeing Rigby in the process. He came down from the air, falling right into the red robin's arms.

"Hey good looking," she said winking to him.

Rigby smiled back at her, before playfully putting his arms behind his head. "Yep! All the ladies want the Rigby! Once you go fur, there is no return!"

"That doesn't rhyme," she said with a curious smile on her face.

"DON'T RUIN MY MOMENT," he screamed in her face, causing her to sigh and drop him right on his tail. The raccoon rubbed his backside before pointing his finger directly at Margaret. "You!"

She reacted back to him by losing her smile and pointing her own finger behind the small man. "That!"

Rigby looked at her with confusion and then turned around to see what she was pointing at. A long wave of purple grass was coming towards them at an alarming rate, stampede formation. Their echoing laughter and use of the word that Margaret now dispised echoed loudly through the air as they rushed toward them.

Rigby stared blank eyed at it for a second before returning to Margaret. "Run while screaming?"

"Totally," she answered before turning on a heel and dashing as fast as she could get away from the trouble.

The raccoon followed her lead and pushed all four of his paws to their limit. Running as fast as he could to try and keep up with Margaret. He found that he didn't need to really out run the rush of grass, he just needed to out run Margaret, though it would surprise him to realize that, while not as serious, she was thinking the same thing. They both wanted to save Mordecai, yes, but they were also intent on saving themselves so they could save him. Once again, saving anyone else in the process was a nice added bonus. They both quickly looked behind them. Neither looked like they were going to out run anyone at the pace it was coming at them.

As the grass approached their feet, it lifted itself up into the air, tightening themselves around each other as much as they could, changing formations and moving in bizarre directions, creating the shape of a large mallet that was about to come down on the bird and mammal. The grass exploded into a glee filled parade as they locked onto their targets. Right as the purple charged itself down onto the ground, and Rigby and Margaret were saying their last words, again… a flash of steel and white zoomed across in front of them, reaching out a hand and collecting the two of them.

A loud boom sounded behind them as they looked around to see what had just happened. The mallet had come down and left a powerful dent in the ground. It would've killed them easily. But they had survived, and found themselves inside the park golf cart that was always being used by…

"Skips," they both screamed happily, looking at the yeti in the driver's seat as he pressed his foot down hard on the gas. The cart reacted and they were off like a rocket.

He sized them up quickly and noticed how roughed up and haggard they looked. The yeti could tell that most of the damage wasn't from the grass and vines themselves, but stemmed from something else. Rigby sat in the back seat looking like he had just crawled out of a crippling depression, and Margaret sat next to Skips looking overworked and exhausted. The yeti decided not to press them about their personal lives at the moment and remained focused on the current panic.

"What happened?" he asked them in his usual monotone voice.

"It's a long story," Rigby said holding on to the seat so he wouldn't get thrown out of the moving cart.

Skips only rolled his eyes, and did a quick sharp turn, avoiding some vines that were rushing toward them.

"Lemme guess," he began, "you and Mordecai screwed up again?"

"Actually," Margaret said stepping in, "it was Rigby and myself. Mordecai's still at the house, probably worried about us."

"Good to know," Skips said as he did another sharp turn, causing the bird and raccoon to slide in their seats. Something caught the eye of the driver in front of him that shined and sparkled in the sunlight. He reached his left hand down out of the cart and swiped the sparkling object up.

"I think this is yours," he said as he handed Rigby his hedge clippers from earlier. The raccoon took them from Skips' hand and hugged them close to his chest, accidentally poking himself lightly in the nose with a pointed end. He pushed them away and rubbed his nose. No blood it looked like. Rigby then snatched up his weapon again, and cautiously held them close this time.

"So how exactly do we stop this thing?" Skips yelled as he swerved around some of the growing purple grass. "Do you two even know how?"

"Yes we do," Margaret said hastily, "we just need to turn the hose off! That'll stop the sprinklers and keep it from growing any more out of control!"

Skips nodded in agreement. "But how are you going to kill it?"

Rigby and Margaret glanced at each other again.

"Won't getting rid of the water kill it?" Rigby asked the yeti.

"It'll slow it down, but it ain't gonna do much damage to the thing."

"Uuuuuuuuuugh," Rigby bemoaned loudly, "why can't it ever be something easy!"

Margaret groaned audibly as well, massaging the bridge of her beak. "So what do we do then?" she questioned the two of them.

The large white beast pressed down on the gas, and hit a grass hill, causing the golf cart to jump into the air for a second.

"You just got to find its heart and kill it," Skips said as the cart hit the ground and sped towards the now in sight house.

"And how do you know this?" the red robin asked Skips.

The yeti's eyes remained fixated on the house in front of him. "You don't want to hear that story," he said in a low, surprisingly nostalgic tone, "trust me."

Rigby rolled his eyes and clipped his clippers together a few times in an act of annoyance. "Well then, where are we supposed to find-"

Before he could finish his question though, a vine rushed toward him from the side, slamming itself into his gut and propelling the raccoon from the golf cart. Margaret cried out his name as he skipped along the grass, but her voice went unheard, as Skips just kept on pushing forward.

"We have to go back for him," the red robin said at the yeti.

Skips shows no sign of sympathy and slowly shakes his head. They were approaching the house at a steady speed.

"We need to be more concerned with the gardening," he said turning the corner of the house and quickly making their way to the back, "other wise, this whole place will grow out of control and take over the city."

More good news that Margaret wanted to hear today. How could it get any better? She did her best to try and put Rigby in the back of her mind and focus on saving the park, but it was still hard not to care about someone who might have just died, especially a friend. Of course, she had a feeling that Rigby probably wouldn't have cared if it happened to her, but tried to put that in the back of her mind as well, hoping it wasn't true. They needed to think of their next step. No doubt the hose faucet would be guarded with prison guard style security. And then there was still the matter of finding the…

"Look out," the bird screamed pointing in front of the golf cart.

The purple grass had grown long in front of them and angled them selves, forming a ramp in front of the incoming cart. Skips tried to swerve out of the way of it, but couldn't make the turn, causing them to skid at full speed and hit the ramp head on. They left the ground and flew high into the air.

Though they were floating high toward imminent death, Skips took the advantage and began leaning out of the cart to see what the damage was. They had gotten a lot of air, launching them higher than the house itself. The yeti tried to calculate a landing point and found that they were going to land on the other side of the vine mess that originally was the hole from earlier. He couldn't help but become fascinated with the transformation the thing had gone through overnight. Then again, he was also impressed that Mordecai and Rigby could summon a horror from that hole only a few weeks earlier. He chuckled under his breath when he realized how hilarious the circumstances leading up to that event were, but that was a memory for another time. At the moment, they needed to think of something to save them.

The yeti then felt someone tugging on his fur. He glanced over to Margaret who was now pointing down toward the center of the jungle of vines. Skips looks directly under them to whatever it is she's pointing to and finds a gaping hole in the center, with a large, green, bleeding heart.

"Found it," they both said in unison.

And is if the heart of the creature knew what the two had discovered, several vines grew from it, rushing towards the golf cart, wrapping themselves around the machine, and forcefully pulling everything down, cart and all. It happened so fast, Margaret didn't have time to react. Skips, however, being used to these action sequences, quickly grabbed the girl, tucked her under his armpit, and shot out of the golf cart. It was then dragged into the maw of the yard, and swallowed into the darkness.

Skips and Margaret landed near the back of the house, and while good for them for being so close to the faucet, it was also just as bad since the purple grass was expecting it. Margaret reacted first this time, knowing where she was and what was going to happen. She dashed to her feet, picked up her axe that she had lost grip of during the fall, and began to sprint toward the faucet. Skips, on the other hand, was not so lucky this time. He knew any sort of grass this stained in such a color, was bad news, but before he could get to his feet and skip away, the grass surrounded him, filled the air with laughter, and grappled the yeti to the ground. He pulled and struggled as much as he could away from them, but their grip was just too much even for him.

Margaret peeked behind her to find the yeti subdued.

"Go on without me," he said with an uncaring tone as the grass wrapped around him tightly, making sure no part of him could be seen.

The robin didn't want to leave him like Rigby, but she had no choice. She turned herself back toward her goal and tried to pick up the pace of her sprint. She zigzagged herself left and right, doing her best to avoid the traps the gardening was setting up for her. Margaret made sure to keep watching the ground, noticing the loops and trick ropes the grass was forming into, jumping over areas that shot them selves up like spikes, and dropping down low to roll under the clotheslines that they kept making. It would surprise anyone to know that she actually knew what she was doing. Working at a busy coffee house can certainly get you some exercise, and have you learn a thing or two about avoiding physical contact in a bustling environment.

Just ahead of her was the finish line: the faucet was within just a few feet of her. But the grass sensed this and began to raise their wall around the perimeter. Margaret knew this was a now or never situation, and made a leap of faith toward the end. Time slowed down for the bird as her feet left the ground and she stretched herself out, arms first, toward the faucet. Her body went over the grass, noticing the grass as they began to stick straight up like spikes. Her belly grazed the top of the wall, cutting her, causing her to wince and spasm her body for a split second. The spiked growth caught her feet as she finished passing over the wall, causing her to flip forward completely and land on her back, her axe dropping to the ground with her.

The wind was knocked out of her, but her mind was still reacting with bullet speed accuracy. Knowing she was on her back made her susceptible to the ground, and she once again tried to make a mad dash to her feet, but the grass seized the opportunity and latched her feet to the ground. She got on to her knees, and found them to be pinned a second later. The robin looked around, trying to examine her predicament. A wall had sealed her within this hell, surrounding her between where she had landed and the wall of the house. There was barely any light coming in as vines above her sheltered her from the bright morning sun, only allowing a few small patches of sunlight in. Her eyes then glued themselves in front of her as she saw the faucet within arms length. She instantly reached out her wing and grabbed the faucet knob, only to be greeted by about twenty blades of grass spears as they ran through her arm. Margaret let out a scream, but didn't stop with what she was going to do.

"Don't you love us mama?" the little things said as they began to wrap themselves around her fore arm, moving ever closer to her shoulder and neck.

Margaret bit down on her beak and grunted.

"SHUT UP," she screamed turning the faucet. As she turned, her joints and muscles fought through the grass that was currently protruding through her arm, cause her to flinch in pain. Trickles of blood slid down the grass as she turned the sprinkler completely off. When she felt the crank could no longer turn, she knew it was done.

A loud symphony of "why" erupted from the ground as the grass grew from the ground and tried to coil itself around the faucet in an attempt to turn it back on. Margaret swiftly placed her other hand on top of the hand already on the knob and held it there. Not wanting to admit defeat yet, the purple grass began to poke and stab her wings with their razor sharp ends.

"Now what do I do?" Margaret thought to herself as she gasped in pain.

A sudden high pitch scream came from directly above her, as she turned her attention to it. Vines from above the ground danced and played with each other, blocking out the sun and the sky altogether. A moment of darkness passed over the small glimmers of light over head in a hurry, stopping directly over her. When a pair of blades pierced through the flesh of the vines, she knew who it was.

"Rigby," she screamed as loud as she could.

The raccoon burst through the roof of her claustrophobic nightmare, and landed cleanly on the ground. He looked like he had been through hell, covered in bruises, a black eye (she couldn't figure out how a raccoon could get a black eye), and a couple of nicks and cuts here and there along his tail.

He let out an irritated grunt. "You already got the hose? I wanted to save the day!"

Margaret let out her own exasperated sound before saying anything to Rigby. "Still gotta kill the thing's heart, remember!"

"Oh yeah," he remembered. "Where is it?"

"It's in the middle of the hole! Think you can get it? Skips and I are kind of tied up right now."

Rigby smirked. "No one can stop the Rigby!"

As soon as he said this, a green vine wrapped itself around his foot and flung him through the wall of purple grass that was keeping all of them in. Rigby slid across the ground, hitting the wrapped up bundle of Skips in the process.

"'Cept that," the raccoon groaned.

He looked up from his position and saw the gaping hole in front of him. This was it. He was going to be the hero this time. No one was going to blame him for all of this trouble if he could prove that it could be fixed just as fast as it was caused.

The familiar feeling of a vine wrapping around his leg again caused him to act this time, gripping himself around the vine as it made an attempt to toss the raccoon across the park again. But when it let go to fling the raccoon, it noticed the furry creature hadn't left. The green rope began to shake violently in an attempt to try and cause the raccoon to fall to the ground, but the boy held on tight to the vine, his arms and legs crossed around it while still keeping a steady hold of his heavy clippers.

Realizing that this wasn't working, it slammed itself onto the ground, crushing Rigby into the ground. But the raccoon didn't relent (though he wanted to), taking the pain. The vine tried it again and again, doing its very best to coerce the latched animal off of it. As the vine quickly belted back to get ready to slam down again, Rigby let go, allowing the momentum of the vine launch him into the air. In the back of his mind he noticed that he had been thrown around more than usual this week.

As he reached his peak in the air, he came down from the sky, extending his shears and pointing them in the direction of the heart. Hundreds of vines grew from that place, rushing themselves toward the raccoon. One of them clipped his arm, causing him to spiral out of place and disorient himself. He reached out to something to try and balance himself out, and ended up grabbing a hold of one of the vines reaching out towards him. Though it freaked him out, it was enough to balance himself.

Purple grass and vines all surrounded him, trying to defend their home from the predator. But it was all for naught, as the raccoon came down onto the heart, clippers ready to stab and slice, he approached the heart, swung out his weapon…

…and missed. By a large margin it turned out. He wasn't even close to the heart.

In that very moment as he passed the beating organ, his mind began to panic and tried to look for a way out of the situation. He reached out for another vine that had grown out from the heart and tried to take hold. But he was only able to keep his balance for a half second before it began to shake violently and rapidly in an attempt to throw him into the darkness beneath him. It shook, danced, and eventually slammed itself into the soil walls. The impact of the wall caused Rigby to leg go of the clippers as they flew not below, but above him as a result from the recoil. The clippers flew high up, ignoring the vines descending unto Rigby, and barely nicked the very bottom of the monster's heart. It was just enough.

A glass shattering screech bellowed out from everywhere as the heart began to bleed out fertilizer and a clear ooze from the growing stab wound. The vines began to move unpredictably and dance madly. Within seconds the vines had begun to turn brown, dry up, and die, one by one.

Seeing the opportunity that was given to him, Rigby began to climb the vine he had attached himself to as fast as he could. When he noticed the vine was drying out and breaking apart, he jumped to a still green one and climbed up a little faster, repeating the process when he needed to. Three vines later, the raccoon was on surface level, and climbed up onto solid ground. He quickly looked around himself to see everything was dying all around him: The vines receded and broke apart as they toppled to the ground, while the purple grass shrieked out in pain and returned to its natural color of green.

Rigby looked back at the hole and looked inside. The soil walls were beginning to cave in and fill the bottomless pit. He took a few steps back as he heard the scream of the heart, launching itself from its home into the sky. It let out one more miserable sound before exploding into a clear ooze that covered the area, Rigby, a wrapped up Skips, and to her dismay, Margaret as well. When the hole was completely filled again, a beautiful flower garden grew in its place, filled with some of the most colorful and exotic flowers the raccoon or any of them had ever seen.

Realizing that there were other people there too, Rigby turned back toward Skips and Margaret to see if they were alright. The grass that had enveloped Skips had uncoiled itself from around him and set him free, covering him in slime in the process, while Margaret still lay on the ground in utter pain from all the puncture wounds on her hands and arms. She looked over at Rigby for a moment and gave him a thumbs up before returning to her moment of agony. The house that had been covered in vines this morning was now free over its grasp.

The back door flew open as Benson stepped out of the house to see what had just happened. Pops appeared in the doorway behind him, with Mordecai slowly tailing the two men. In front of them was a beautiful garden, surrounded by dead earth life, a confused yeti, a bruised and beat up raccoon, and just next to the back porch was Margaret, still writhing in pain. When Mordecai saw her, he pushed past his employers and ran over to the robin's side.

As Pops stepped out of the house, the first thing he saw was the stunning garden in front of them, blooming with a new array of colors and wild flowers that the lollipop man had never seen before.

"MAGNIFICIENT!" he cried out in inflated delight, "SIMPLY MAGNIFICIENT!"

"WHAT THE CRAP HAPPENED," the gumball machine shrieked, wasting no time in raising his voice.

He jumped in surprise as Rigby raised his arms above his head and let out an energized, "Ooooooooh!"

The raccoon then proceeded to do a celebratory dance around the newly formed garden, his tail wagging and rejoicing with him. Mordecai observed his friend dancing around while everyone else seemed confused or in pain.

"Dude," the blue jay started as he grabbed Margaret by the hand, "why are you dancing? Margaret's injured!"

Upon pulling her up, he looked down at his own hands which were now colored bright red from the blood that was dripping out all over her wings. His face changed from agitation to horror as he quickly began to panic for the woman.

"Benson," he screamed to the gumball machine, "call 9-1-1!"

The gumball machine curiously walked over to the red bird and gently took her other wing into his hands, making sure not to get any blood on himself. He studied her arm up and down, seeing several spots where little trickles gradually escape the skin.

Margaret pulled her wings away from the both of them, and achingly smiled at the two men. "I'll be fine," she said trying not to show pain, "I just need another good long shower."

"Another?" Benson pried. The red robin forced a giggle, but was only able to retain an awkward smile at the two men before turning her attention back to the raccoon.

Rigby had ceased his joyous dancing, and had begun to make false accusations about the gardens "mama" which Margaret couldn't help but frown at, but also find highly amusing at the same time. She knew that didn't make any sense, but her psyche was still damaged, so she had an excuse to think that way.

"What happened?" Benson asked as he approached Skips.

Mordecai followed behind him with an irritated glare. "Rigby probably screwed something up," the blue jay said, automatically thinking of the worst case scenario.

It couldn't have been Margaret's fault. She was the one who was injured and might need possible medical attention. Yes, Rigby was pretty banged up and bruised too, and yes, Mordecai did have a bias towards the girl he had a major crush on, but that was beside the point. Margaret was in worse standings then Rigby, so he must have been the instigator for the whole series of events.

"They left the sprinkler on overnight," Skips explained as he tried to brush little bits and pieces of dead plant off his ooze soaked fur.

They? That would imply that it was someone else other than Rigby who screwed up this mess, and while Mordecai tried to figure out who the other culprit was, Benson automatically turned around to face Margaret, his face a deep shade of purple. The bird looked away and did her best to look innocent.

"And we umm…," she murmured, "we kind of used up all your fertilizer too."

A loud hissing whistle erupted from the gumball machine as steam began to pour out of every opening of his body. By the looks of it, he looked like he was about to run over to the avian creature, choke her to death, and use her dead body to bludgeon the raccoon into submission.

"They fixed it though," Skips interrupted. "She turned off the sprinklers, and Rigby killed the vine things."

Benson's fury began to slowly subside on hearing this. Sure he was still mad at them for disobeying everything he had told them to do, but they were able to at least fix their mistake, even if it took them a day to do it. And if that wasn't enough, all their "hard work" had paid off with a beautiful garden that was sure to become a centerpiece of the park if used correctly. So overall, Benson was conflicted.

"Well," he tried to say something, unable whether to add anger or astonishment to the conversation, "both you and Rigby get yourselves cleaned up, find some rakes, and pick all this dead mess up from off the lawn."

He puffed out one more bellow of steam before returning back into the house. He passed Pops on the way in, who was still enamored by the new garden, grabbed him by his arm and drug him inside.

Skips gave a deep sigh toward the exiting gumball machine. Not that he really cared since he did his best to try and keep his emotions out of the crossfire of life. He realized then that he would have to get a new golf cart. Perhaps this time he could just build a new one. Maybe he could build one with a V8 engine, and power steering, and energy saving solar panels. After all, he had to stay green, didn't he?

"Skips," Margaret said, disrupting the yeti's train of thought, "thank you." The bird admitted that Skips still scared her a little bit, but she couldn't help but admire the determination he had going for himself.

He nodded to her before walking away into the distant tomorrow. Margaret watched him and understood that even if the yeti was very quiet and emotionless, he had a lot of drama going on around him. Like where did that dust cloud come from, and how did he fade away into it? It was all too overly dramatic for her tastes. She always hated bad writing.

Her attention turned to Mordecai, who seemed as though he was still contemplating who the other person could possibly be. She smiled at him, and punched him in the shoulder. It caught him off guard, leaving another red stain on his feathers, but also leaving the female to wince in pain at her knuckles.

"Hey," he cried out childishly, "what was that-"

It was then that Mordecai finally realized that Margaret was naked.

"Uh…," he embarrassingly grunted, "ummm…"

The blue jay studied every inch of her body, from the tips of her wings, to the curve of her tail feathers. Margaret noticed and gave the bird a sly look.

"Like what you see?" she asked him in a jokingly seductive manner.

"Did she just ask me that?" the blue jay pondered. The options cluttered his brain on what to say next. If he said no, then he would have insulted her and ruin his chances of ever being with her. But if he said yes, then he might look like a creep and make her think he only cares about her body and not her personality. But what if he said nothing at all? No, that wouldn't do. It would just make him look like some shy guy who's no good around women... which he was.

"You look," he gulped nervously, "goooooooood…"

Margaret raised an eyebrow at the extended pronunciation of the compliment. She began to understand what Rigby had been talking about back at her apartment.

"Thank you," she said smiling at him.

Mordecai sighed deeply in relief and fulfillment. That was probably the most difficult thing he had to do in his life.

Margaret watched him relaxing, though his body still looked tense. She then cocked an eyebrow and gave him a funny look. The blue jay jumped and quickly asked, "what's wrong?"

"You might wanna go clean yourself up," the female said as she pointed to the bottom of the blue jay's beak.

Mordecai gave her a confused look, and then realized that he was drooling. He steadily wiped all the saliva off his beak and chin, and returned to smile back at her.

"You don't look so well," she continued.

Mordecai wanted to say something to break the ice then and there, but his mind and his eyes were too focused on her body and it was racking hard on his, well... everything.

"I, uh...," he tried to cough out, "I gotta go." He began to walk away from the girl, starting off slow at first but then belting into a full on sprint a few seconds later, as he dashed right into the house.

Margaret watched the process of his escape in total amazement. She wasn't insulted from what just happened though. Actually, she was a little flattered, happy that men still gave her that reaction, as conceded and superficial as it sounded about herself. She put a mental note to the side to go visit Mordecai and try to comfort him later, of course, wearing new clothes when she does.

"Where's he running off to," asked Rigby approaching the female from behind.

"To take a long cold shower," she joked.

Margaret took in a deep breath and exhaled in reprieve. She and Rigby had just saved the day, albeit with some injuries. Her wings still hurt, but at least they were beginning to stop bleeding. She looked down at the raccoon and gave him a great big smile.

Rigby was starting to notice that this woman smiled and giggled entirely too much. It was beginning to sicken him slightly. He began to think about earlier that morning, about what he said to her and all the things he might have been in denial about for the longest times. The key word being "might" as he still refused to even give his brain a moment of thought about that morning. He'll just keep all of his inner demons inside him and dismiss them for the time being till he can't remember what he was upset about in the first place.

"Hey," he started, "about this morning…"

"I won't tell Mordecai what we talked about, okay?"

Rigby was glad to hear it. Not like he wasn't surprised to hear her say this though. Margaret never really was one to gossip behind other people's backs.

A rumble grumbled from within their stomachs, signifying that it was almost lunch time. A lot had happened to them within the past few hours, within the past week for that matter, but overall, it seemed like things were beginning to get back to normal. The duo walked back to the house together, ready for a long shower (not together this time), ready for some bandages and wrap for their wounds, and ready for a nice hot meal. And as they sat at the kitchen table eating cold cereal for lunch, they sincerely enjoyed each others company.

Status quo had returned to their lives at last... for now.

_Fool Cross Over Nirvana (Grudge Prohibited) - Yasushi Ishii_

__**Author's Notes  
**Oh my god. I'm actually kind of scared right now. This fic is just becoming so popular, and I just realized this the other day. I'm looking at all the hits it's getting, the feed back I'm receiving, and I've even got some fanart here and there. It's settled... I'm finishing this fic to the very end. No skimping out on anything. I won't let this end up like Imaginary Secrets. I will finish this sucker and that is that! And if I get lazy on anything, I expect you guys to find me and force me to finish it. Thank you everyone! Thank you so much for everything thus far! Stay tuned for Eleven next week!

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	11. Less Talk More Rokk

**Chapter Eleven**

**Less Talk More Rokk**

Its remarkable how fast time flies, Benson thought as he descended the stairs down to the first floor. Two months after the events of the strange plant monster and Iacedrom, and life had returned to a sense of normalcy in the park. At least whatever Benson's definition of normalcy was. Everything seemed to go back to the way things were before, save that the staff now had a new permanent employee at their side.

When Benson had asked Margaret to stay on with the park full time, it actually shocked her. After all that had happened in the time she was there, he and Pops still wanted her to stay with the staff. Sure, a couple of bizarre events and eldritch abominations manifested themselves during her entire time there, but they were manageable compared to the ones that she and her co-workers had to deal with when she was first hired on. But overall, she was able to keep a level head and figure out the best solution to any of the problems the park dealt with, not limited but including: a home shopping incident, a curse placed on Skip's house, some disturbing gender bended doppelgangers, and how to program the VCR… while it was trying to steal the whole gang's souls.

But in the end, she jumped at the opportunity to stay with them, happy that she found a place of employment that actually accepted her without issues. Well, there were a few issues here and there including the fact that Mordecai had problems finishing his work when he was paired with her to do chores. There was also a problem with her lodgings as she had decided to leave her old apartment behind and move in with the staff. This caused difficulties as there were no more empty rooms for her to adopt, and Benson was against the idea of her sharing a room with both Mordecai and Rigby, specifically Mordecai who was still using the downstairs couch as a bed at that point. And then there was the subject of her love life.

Overtime, as the red robin got used to her surroundings and was more comfortable with talking about herself to the rest of the staff (save for Muscle Man and High Five Ghost who she couldn't stand to be in the same room as), she slowly started bringing home all her boyfriends to the house, boyfriends being the plural of the single meaning. It seemed like she had a new boyfriend every week or two. This wasn't a call of alarm to Benson at first, but when it started getting to the point that Rigby ended up staying downstairs with Mordecai, something had to be done about.

Speaking of which, as Benson crossed down the final stair step onto the ground floor he turned his attention to the couch. The two idiots had apparently left the TV on, and a light from the fuzzy static gave the room a dim glow. Mordecai lay on his stomach, snoozing quietly with his right arm underneath his pillow and the other arm dangling over the edge of the couch. His raccoon friend was resting in an almost identical position on top of the bird's spine. Rigby's chin, however, rested on the blue jay's head using it as a pillow. Other than that, it was the perfect re creation, only replace the couch with Mordecai.

The gumball machine rolled his eyes and proceeded to sneak into the kitchen. When he walked in, he was greeted by the image of Margaret, standing in front of the kitchen window in a lime green robe, looking out into the morning world. She held a cup of coffee with both her hands, keeping it close to her mouth, observing everything outside before taking a small sip of her black drink. For a moment, Benson understood why Mordecai was so attracted to her, as he couldn't help but feel a passing fancy for her at that moment. She seemed so peaceful and kind as the morning sun hit her red and white feathers, illuminating her every feature.

Benson chuckled at the thought of himself and Margaret, quickly dismissing it and instead walked over to the coffee pot on the counter.

The sound of someone in the room with her caused Margaret to snap out of her state of empty bliss. "Good morning," she said turning to the walking dispenser, "sleep well?"

"As good as I usually do," Benson replied as he poured some coffee in a mug. "Which usually isn't very good."

He laughed at himself before walking over to the fridge to see what he could find to appease his morning hunger. Pulling the door open, he stuck his head inside to see what he could find.

"You stress too much," Margaret added.

His body pulled away from the inside of the fridge to reveal a donut in his mouth and a bag of bacon balancing on his head.

"You think?" he asked the woman in a muffled voice.

Margaret burst out into chuckles, underestimating her boss once again. Boss… she still hadn't become used to calling Benson that yet, but she was getting there at least.

The man shut the fridge and proceeded over to a cabinet above the stove, opening it and pulling out a small skillet. He turned the oven on and waited for it to heat up.

"So how are you and Fairness?" Benson asked Margaret as he took the donut from his mouth and leaned against the counter with a small smile on his face.

"Fairness?" she questioned, "he and I broke up like two weeks ago."

Benson tilted his head quizzically. "I thought that was Virtue?"

"Virtue and I broke up forever ago" Margaret continued, "I'm with Angel now."

The female looked at the gumball machine, noticing that he was giving her a bland and indifferent stare, even after he took another bite of his donut.

"Yeah I know," she said with embarrassment, "I have issues with men."

Benson's lips curved into a small grin before turning around and placing some bacon on the hot skillet. "So is Angel upstairs then?" he asked as he watched the meat sizzle and pop.

"Maaaaaaybe," she answered as she took another small sip of coffee.

Benson's face grimaced as he pulled a pair of tongs from out of a drawer next to the stove. "Didn't we discuss that?"

"I'm just kidding," Margaret said waving her wing in front of him. "He went home sometime after midnight. He's such a sweetie too."

"I'll bet," the male answered, tapping the instrument in his hands on the counter impatiently.

"He said he was going to call me later this morning," she giggled.

No more than a few seconds after she said that, the phone begins to ring. Margaret winks at Benson before walking over the phone and picking it up. "Hey baby," she said without even asking who it was.

The bacon on the stove pops, sending burning grease onto the gumball machines hand. He jumped at the sensation before realizing it was time to turn over his breakfast. After doing this act he leans back against the counter and glances around the room, trying to kill time as his food cooks. He looks in the direction of the living room to see Mordecai's head up from the couch, looking directly at Margaret on the phone. His face was filled with annoyance as she so happily talks to her boyfriend. Rigby, however, was still asleep on top of him.

"Really?" asked Margaret over the phone, "alright then. I'll see you there. Bye."

The robin then placed the phone back on its hook and returned to her coffee.

"Angel and I just broke up," she said as a matter of fact.

"Sorry to hear that," Mordecai said as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

Benson hesitated before realizing that Mordecai had just magically appeared behind her. His feathers were still ruffled and disheveled from the nights sleep and it was pretty obvious that he was still only half awake. That didn't stop him from taking advantage of an opportunity though. Benson quickly looked back over to the couch in the other room to find it vacant, save for Rigby who had been thrown onto the floor, and was still snoozing away.

"Oh," Margaret jumped in shock, "good morning, Mordecai. I didn't see you sneak up on me."

Benson rolled his eyes as he places the bacon on a plate next to his nearly finished donut. He then turned the stove off and places himself into a seat in front of the kitchen table, ready to hear Mordecai suck up and kiss the feet of his "love".

"Anything I can do to help ya through your break up?" the blue jay asks trying to sound as caring as possible.

"No no," Margaret answers, "I'll be fine. But thank you though."

She turns around and gives Mordecai a quick hug before letting go and walking over to the table and sitting down next to Benson. Mordecai's beak blushes red and he finds himself frozen in place with a content grin.

"There is something we need to do though," she continues. "Angel told me that the coffee shop is having an open mic night tonight. You know, using the stage that we nearly killed ourselves working on. And he wants to know if we wanna come listen to him perform."

Benson looks up from his breakfast, still with a half a piece of bacon in his mouth. "Wait, wait, wait. They rebuilt the stage? I thought you guys said that thing was blown to pieces."

"Well it was," Margaret answers as an annoyed expression forms on her face, "but they must of thought the stage was lucky or something so they decided to rebuild it and hold an open mic. Kind of ticks me off actually."

"I'll bet," Benson answers as he returns to his food.

"I kind of want to go," the woman says as she begins to trace her finger around the rim of her coffee mug. "I wanna see how the shop is doing and say hi to everyone I left behind. Hope they aren't mad."

""Well if they are, they'll get over it," Benson added trying to take some of the worry away from the girl. She gave him a weak smile and nodded.

Her attention then shifted to Mordecai, still standing there with a dumb look on his face. "You wanna come along?"

Margaret's voice caught his attention, and he snapped out of his trance. "Wait, wha… like you and me?" he asked pointing to her and then to himself.

"Yeah," she went on, "and Rigby, and Benson, and Pops, and anyone else who wants to come too."

Mordecai's hopes dropped as she finished. Again, his mind was hoping that her statement was implying a romantic evening between the two of them, and once again, he found all of his hopes dashed as he found himself forever locked into the friend-zone. This was not a good way to start the morning.

* * *

"I miss my old shirt," Margaret commented as she looked at her belly-T. The red robin had been surprisingly disparaged since the destruction of her favorite shirt back during the vine thing. The ooze apparently stained the shirt and ruined it completely. When she called to order another one though, she found that the "little sailor boy and his sassy whale" T-shirt was cancelled. So instead, she opted for a completely purple belly-T with the image of a cat/bear/boy thingie on it. She accompanied it with a black leather skirt. Needless to say, Mordecai couldn't take his eyes off her.

"Dude," Rigby said pointing to his friend's beak, "you're drooling again."

Upon entering the coffee shop, a wave of familiar scents and sights overwhelmed the red robin. A sudden urge to clean the tables and rush to the back to pick up supplies for the espresso maker came upon her. Old habits die hard. She had to remember that no longer did she work for the coffee house, but now worked with her friends at the park. It was still a strange sensation to walk back through the doors after a few months away from it. Margaret and the rest of the park staff hadn't even swung by once to get a to-go order of coffee.

The place look like it hadn't even changed one bit. Everything was exactly in its place the day she left it. Well, everything before it all went to hell that fateful night, but she was still trying to push that memory out of her brain. It was kind of surprising to see how little had changed. The only real difference to the place was the stage that they had spent so much time building had been rebuilt and now had real equipment and such on it. Apparently, it was a big hit.

"I can't believe this," Margaret groaned, "we do all the work, and they get all the credit."

Mordecai and Rigby both nodded in agreement with her. It was hard to look at what they had put so much effort into and not get a shred of respect for it. The trio descended the stairs into the shop, hoping they wouldn't all be sharing the same amount of resentment the whole night.

A few rows of chairs had been set up for the open mic night, and just about every single one of them had been filled. Customers lined up from one end of the shop to the next to get a cup of coffee, and the employees seemed to be running all over the place more so than they did when she worked there.

Still, Margaret refused to let any of that get to her and decided to mingle among the crowd. She had decided to talk to some of her former co-workers after the coffee hungry barbarians cooled down.

Other than that, most of the night consisted of various bands, musicians, and stand up comedians performing their skits and exiting the stage for the next performance. Everyone got equal cheer, and even the worst of bands and actors got applause at the very least.

Mordecai and Rigby found some chairs in the audience and decided to sit down and enjoy the entertainment. Rigby found himself as the peanut gallery, offering cheers and jeers to those who truly deserved it, while Mordecai kept looking around the room for Margaret to see if she was flirting with anyone in particular.

"And now ladies and gentlemen," said the announcer from on stage, "I give you the smooth acoustic styles of… Angel."

A loud "whoop" could be heard from a female red robin somewhere in the background, but no one but a few people and some blue guy bothered to check the background for the cause of the sound.

A tall human male with long blonde hair, an open shirt, and an acoustic guitar steps out onto the stage and begins to play his riff for the night.

Truth be told, this was the first time that Mordecai had gotten a good look at his previous competition. He just couldn't see what she saw in any of them. She was always with someone new it seemed like, and even more so, it always ended up being with a human. Mordecai wasn't sure what the reason behind that was, though. Last thing he wanted to hear was that the girl of his dreams had a human fetish.

The performer sang on for a few minutes before thanking the audience for listening and exiting the stage. He got a surprising amount of applause, which only made the blue jay believe if he tried hard enough he could get that much admiration if he wanted to. He just didn't want to… unless Margaret was interested.

"Dude," Rigby sighed looking onto the stage, "this couldn't get anymore boring than that last guy."

"Totally," Mordecai replied, "he's not even good looking!"

"Yeah," raccoon agreed, "wait, what?"

The bird was still in a fit of jealousy and had completely phased out any of the music that had been playing. He peeked over his shoulder to see if Margaret was nearby. Sure enough, she was nearby the staircase talking to Angel about his piece. The red robin laughed and giggled and complimented the man, while he brushed his hair behind his ears and gave her a sweet wink and big smile.

"I'll be right back, dude," Mordecai said getting up from his chair and heading in the direction of his crush and her ex.

Rigby watched his friend leave before peering over his shoulder as well to see Margaret and Angel chatting amongst them selves. He rolled his eyes at his friend's stalker like tendencies and returned to the stage floor.

"Alright," said the announcer up front, "our next act is a little hardcore and a little dark. This is Demon."

An extremely lanky teenager wearing nothing but red (including his hair), save for the fake black tear stains on his face, walked onto the stage with an electric guitar in hand.

"This is song is called," he began, but then paused for a few seconds to stare vacantly at the crowd. "It's called, umm… song."

He then raised his guitar pick into the air, and rushed it down onto the guitar, faster than light. His rifts were jangled and disoriented, finding a specific rhythm and then causing it to crash down into something random and peculiar.

Rigby glanced around at the audience. All of them looked enthralled by his playing. A few people in the background were nodding along to the disjointed mess, while a few women and some men were actually in tears with smiles on their faces. The raccoon had no idea what was going on. He knew that he loved rock, but what this boy was doing to its good name was killing it. And all the people around them just went along with it.

"Booo," he screamed as loud as he could toward the stage. Rigby stood up on his chair, cupped his mouth into his hands and let out another jeer. "Quit killing rock!"

The boy eyed the raccoon momentarily, but kept his pick towards the strings of the guitar. Unfortunately, by doing this, he only gave the little critic more fuel for the fire.

Meanwhile, Mordecai approached the chatting duo in the back of the shop. Margaret saw him coming, and pointed him out to her ex.

"Hey Mordecai," she said happily, "this is Angel! We broke up this morning over the phone."

"I remember," Mordecai said with a mild sneer on his face. It was hard to tell though, as acting like a tough guy was never in the blue bird's nature. "You don't seem to mind hanging with him though."

She coughed out an awkward chuckle before answering him. "Well, we only dated like a week and a half so there really wasn't any hard feelings or anything."

Angel smiled at the blue jay. "Yeah man," he said in a calm hippy like voice, "we just didn't have anything big in common."

"Oh," was the only thing Mordecai could spew out. Of course he wanted to tell off the man for breaking her heart, but he found it difficult since nobody in the group had a broken heart, except maybe Mordecai. "Sounds… good to me."

There was a nervous silence among the three of them. Mordecai felt like he needed to say something in order to break it up.

"I liked your performance up there," he lied through his teeth.

Angel laughed and nodded at him with thanks. "Actually, I mostly do storyboards for television, but when I saw that this place was doing an open mic night, I just had to come."

Margaret sighed, knowing the reason that Mordecai had come over here was to check up on her. While she enjoyed the fact that this shy guy was crushing on her hard, it kind of annoyed her that he didn't have the guts to at least try and ask her out. That and his weird obsessive nature creeped her out a small bit.

A loud guitar rift surged through the coffee shop, as everyone nearby covered their ears unconsciously. Margaret, Mordecai, and Angel looked over at the source of the sound and found Demon, standing in front of Rigby's chair, letting loose as many rifts as he possibly could. The raccoon found himself holding on to dear life in his chair as everyone else around him was thrown to the side.

One final swing of his pick, and a sonic boom flowed down onto raccoon, knocking him out of his chair, and crushing him down onto the floor.

"Ouch," Rigby said quietly.

The player, Demon, then began to look around the room for something, particularly around the floor. He scratched his head with his pick and cocked an eyebrow.

"That's odd," he said, "terrible demons should have burst forth from the earth and begin tearing you limb from limb before dragging you down into the underworld. Odd…"

He looks at Rigby again, kneeling down and checking the animal out. Save for being mostly out of it and completely unaware of what just happened, the raccoon seemed to be fine.

"I'm losing my touch," Demon sighed again, "I must be out of practice." The musician then sighed, and walked away to order a cup of coffee.

The audience looked at the hurt raccoon on the floor, making snide comments about how he deserved it, and got what was coming to him.

"Ugh," Mordecai groaned, slapping his head with his hand and trailing it down his face, "Rigby."

He proceeded to approach the little animal and scrape him off the tile.

Margaret shook her head and heaved a heavy sigh herself. "That boy must be masochistic, I swear."

The red robin suddenly began to feel a warm wind all over her neck. Curious, she turned around and came face to face with the owner of the coffee house, her former boss. The eel's eyes were glowing red with rage and were directed squarely at the bird.

"Hi, Michelle," Margaret began, "how are-"

"GET… OUT!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know he would have some sort of guitar wielding magical powers?"

"Because, dude, he just did."

Both Mordecai and Rigby argued all the way back to the park, discussing their usual politics of who did what, and how it happened. This time, it was Rigby's fault, though he refused to admit that it was; the usual discussion that the two of them seemed to have on a weekly basis. Margaret every so often decided to add her own commentary to whatever unique situation it was at the time, but went against her better judgment, and allowed them to vent out on each other.

"I had fun at least," she said with a neutral expression.

Mordecai acknowledged her and tried to give the girl a brief smile. "Yeah, it was okay. Until Rigby got us kicked out."

"Hey, hey," the raccoon defended himself, "it wasn't my fault. It was Ms. I-Blew-Up-The-Coffee-House-A-Few-Months-Ago-And-Her-Old-Boss-Hasn't-Forgotten-About-It-Yet."

The blue jay then gave his friend a swift slap across the top of his head. "Don't blame it on Margaret, Rigby, it wasn't her fault."

Both the raccoon and red robin stopped in their places to look at Mordecai.

"Yes it was," they both said to him in unison. Afterwards, they both glanced at each other and laughed.

Mordecai felt a little embarrassed, but wiped it away to join in on the laughter.

"Well," the blue jay said, "it wasn't her fault that we got kicked out tonight, Mr. Piss-Off-The-Guy-On-Stage-With-Magical-Guitar-Powers."

Rigby waved his hand at Mordecai and shrugged him off. "I didn't do anything. I was just telling the truth!"

"What?" the male bird chuckled, "that you're an angry, spoiled little kid?"

"I'M NOT A LITTLE KID," the raccoon screamed. His childish outburst caused both Mordecai and Margaret to laugh at him and his behavior.

He huffed angrily, and crosses his arms. "Well, it's not like we were thrown out of there kicking and screaming."

"No," Margaret began, "but it seemed liked my old boss was doing enough of that for the three of us."

"Yeah," Mordecai agreed, "especially Rigby."

She and Mordecai both chuckled at the thought of the eel woman acting like a baby in front of an entire crowd of people. True that they had seen Rigby do the same thing multiple times before, but his was more adorable than pathetic.

The raccoon did not share the same sentiment though, and crossed his arms in a huff. He didn't feel like shouting or screaming anymore and just allowed the two to rag on him this once. His ears still hurt from earlier, so he was already in a bad mood and didn't feel like talking about it to anyone. He just walked a couple of steps ahead of them and left it at that.

Margaret released a deep sigh as she looked up into the night sky. "It feels like it's getting colder," she said as she rubbed her arms to keep warm.

Mordecai nodded and looked up at the sky as well. "Weatherman says it's supposed to be snowing sometime soon."

"Did they say when?"

"No," the blue jay answered looking over at Margaret, "just sometime soon."

Margaret sighed again and looked straight ahead.

"I hate the cold," she moaned. Her attention shifted to Mordecai, with his eyes still on her. She smiled at him and took his hand, wrapping his arm around the back of her neck. The blue jay hesitated at the touch, but allowed her to do what she pleased. "That's better. Hope you don't mind me borrowing your wing till we get home."

Of course he didn't mind. This was something he had always thought about doing for the longest of times. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe she was legitimately interested in him now.

"It's cool," he responded as his voice cracked from the pressure. Margaret chuckled at the broken sound that came out of his throat.

The blue jay felt of tinge of embarrassment spread across his beak in the form of a deep shade of red. He looked at the situation between the two and tried to overanalyze it. They were two birds, walking in the part, with his arm over her shoulder and neck, in which she still hadn't let go of his hand either. The boy didn't know what to feel.

"Hey Rigby," Margaret chimed in Rigby's direction.

The raccoon heard his name and turned his attention to the robin.

"C'mere," she motioned to him.

Rigby stared at her for a moment before approaching her. As he got close he found himself get scooped up into the robin's arms and placed on top of her head.

"Nice and toasty," she giggled.

Mordecai and Rigby exchanged glances at each other, unsure about the sanity of the girl. Mordecai felt his heart sink yet again after seeing that the thing that they shared wasn't just between the two of them. Rigby just chocked it up to Margaret's strange behavior that he couldn't quite figure out. Was she being friendly, or seductive, or weird? Didn't make a lick of sense to either of them, but she was right about one thing… they all felt nice and toasty.

As the group approached the house, they could hear the soft sounds of laughter coming from the other side of the door. When they entered, Benson was on the phone in the kitchen laughing at the top of lungs.

"Oh hold on," the gumball machine said into the receiver, "they just walked in."

Benson pulled the phone away from his mouth, and held his hand down against the receiving end to ensure no sound flowed through. "Rigby, your brother's on the phone!"

The raccoon groaned upon hearing his sibling wanted to talk to him before jumping off of Margaret and walking into the kitchen.

The female bird looked at Mordecai curiously as Rigby snatched the phone from his employer and half heartedly greeted his brother.

"Who?" Margaret started to ask.

"Rigby's brother, Don," Mordecai answered before she could finish. "Awesome guy! You should meet him. You'd like him. Everyone does!"

"Everyone except Rigby?" the female said in a questioning tone.

"They have… a history."

"I see," Margaret added. "Is he cute?"

Mordecai felt a thump in his throat when she asked. He did his best to swallow it and answer her.

"How would I know?" he asked her nervously.

She laughed it off and pulled away from his wing over her shoulder. The blue jay felt a little down now that that feeling of closeness was gone from him, but was relieved at the same time since he wouldn't have to worry about screwing it up in some way or another.

"Thanks," she said as she walked toward the kitchen.

"For what?" Mordecai asked.

"For looking out for me."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you were looking out for me when I was talking with Angel earlier. It's really sweet of you."

Mordecai's blush deepened a darker shade of red as he looked away from her shyly. "I just… ummm… don't want you getting hurt or anything."

Margaret turned around to meet Mordecai's gaze. She walked back over to the blue jay and planted a kiss on his cheek. If this was all that happened, Mordecai would have been able to sleep soundly that night knowing he got another little kiss from the girl of his dreams. But a boldness erupted within Margaret as she leaned over and rubbed her beak against the blue jay's, causing shivers of delight to course through the both of them. Mordecai's hands clenched into fists as he did his best to take this with stride, and while his mind was doing its best to process what was happening, the inside of his body was melting into some romantic goo. He wanted to do something, but his physical body just refused to budge.

"Thanks," she muttered in an entrancing matter, "but I can take care of myself."

To which she pulled away from him again and began her walk into the kitchen. She noticed Benson on the way in, leaning against the door frame, observing that little song and dance that just proceeded in front of him.

"Do you have any idea what you do to him?" Benson whispered to her with a grin.

"Why do you ask? Want me to do it to you?" Margaret countered jokingly.

The gumball machine chuckled heartily as the robin walked past him.

_Less Talk More Rokk - Freezepop_

**Author's Notes**

Really, the less said about this chapter, the better. Sadly, I must say a lot. This chapter was rewritten four times as it was written during a period in which I didn't know where to take the story. The original pitch was to lead into the group having to deal with a devil that was summoned by Demon, out to collect Rigby's soul. I wrote the chapter where the incubus was introduced, took one look at it, and threw up for how absolutely terribad it was. It is now saved under a folder I have labeled "Abortions". Then I tried to do an arc where it was a retelling of Mordecai and the Rigby's Triangle style, with a future Margaret as well. That didn't work out. Then I rewrote it as simple character development on Mordecai's side and that was crap too. Finally, I took dialogue and scenes from all the rewrites and combined it into this: a throw away chapter. Needless to say, I know exactly where the story is going now and have written up to sixteen at this point. But I can say I do like this chapter a little, at least. I consider a sort of chapter that describes what their lives are like after all the zaniness that happened to them. What do you guys think?

The next chapters go into some dark territory and actually do advance the plot. It's called the Cold Trilogy, so be prepared for a ratings boost to M pretty soon. Just giving everyone a fair warning!

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	12. Cold Shoulder

**Chapter Twelve**

**Cold Shoulder**

He wished that he was wrong, but Benson knew better than to question the thermostat at this point during the day. It was well half past noon and the sun was directly overhead. Still, that didn't stop the weatherman from predicting an on coming cold front moving into the city within the next few days, and the high for the day only confirmed this.

"Forty-four degrees," the gumball machine grumbled as he observed the thermostat hanging next to the outside of the front door. He placed his hands on his hips, hoping that his rising tension would cause the weather and the thermostat to reconsider the situation and go back up. He tried giving the thing a death glare. Seeing no change however, Benson sighed and readjusted his autumn colored scarf he had donned on himself that morning.

"They say it's supposed to snow sometime next week," a voice said from behind the candy machine.

Benson turned around to see Skips skipping up the last step onto the porch. He was wearing the same get up he always did, which confused the grounds keeper, but not by much considering Skips personality. He often wondered if the yeti ever felt cold or warm.

"That's just great," Benson moaned sarcastically.

He turned his head back to the thermostat hoping for at least a degree change for the better. Sadly, it had actually gone down by another degree, causing the man to sigh through his teeth. "Snow," he muttered, "in April."

"Stranger things have happened," Skips said trying to comfort the gumball dispenser.

"Tell me about it."

Benson watched the thermostat for another few seconds before turning around and heading down the steps, with Skips hopping along behind him.

"Let's go get some deicer and some snow scrapers from the hardware store, before the idiots who run it mark up the prices," Benson moaned jumping into the passenger seat of Skips' brand new golf cart.

The yeti nodded to his employer as he propped himself in the drivers seat and started the ignition.

Benson looked down at his feet as the cart began to move and slowly pick up speed. "I need to talk to you about something," he told the yeti.

"What about?"

The gumball machine turned his attention to the driver and adopted a stern expression. A small tinge of pain shivered through his head. He ignored it. "It's about Margaret."

* * *

"This is still the most boring job ever," Rigby complained, his body sprawled out on the snack bar counter.

"Ugh, I know," Mordecai groaned as he leaned on the counter himself. "How does Benson expect any of this stuff to sell if he charges so much for them? I mean, really? Two-fifty for a candy bar? Three dollars for a bag of popcorn?"

"It's not that bad," Margaret defended as she swept up the outside area of the snack bar, "no different from when I worked at the coffee house. Prices are about the same too."

"Umm, yeah. I guess you're right," Mordecai added, straightening him self up from the counter. Rigby rolled his eyes at his friend's agreement.

"You complain more than I do about this job," the raccoon said with a smile on his face. "Oh there's nothing to do here," he mocked in his friend's voice, "why are we stuck here all day, I don't even get to call the coffee shop."

Mordecai gasped at his friend's big mouth, and rewarded him with a swift punch to the gut causing the raccoon to wheeze and cough in pain. He then looked over at the other bird and tried to see how she reacted. Margaret had stopped sweeping and was looking at the blue jay questionably.

"Why would you want to call where I used to work?"

Mordecai's mind scrambled to think of something, but every time he tried to tell her an excuse, nothing came out of his mouth, making him slack jawed and vacant. "I… uh…"

Margaret of course knew why he would want to call. She remembered a few times when the phone would ring at the coffee house, and the moment she answered it, the other line hung up with a quick crash. Back then, she assumed it was just prank callers, but now, she was pretty sure who it really was.

"Were you trying to see if your favorite blend was still available?" she asked Mordecai, a sly grin appearing on her face.

"Umm… yeah! That's it! I wanted to see if my favorite… blend… was available."

Mordecai kicked himself at how stupid that sounded coming out of his mouth. It didn't sound any better coming out of her mouth either, but to him, it at least sounded "better".

The female giggled before hoisting the broom over her shoulder. "Good to know," she said quietly. "Hey! I'm going shopping for a jacket after I get off. It's really starting to get chilly. You guys wanna come with?"

Rigby rolled his eyes. He and Mordecai already had plans for a guys night out already since Margaret had been acting as the third wheel for a while now. The raccoon had been looking forward to this night.

"We already got pla-"

Rigby was cut off when a blue feathered hand sealed up his mouth.

"Yes! Yes," Mordecai proclaimed in excitement. "We'd love to come!"

Margaret didn't seem convinced. She was sure Rigby was about to say something. "Did you two already have plans to do something else?"

"No, no," Mordecai answered, doing his best to keep the raccoon from biting down on his wing, "we weren't doing anything after work."

Margaret's eyes scoped down to Rigby who was squirming on the counter, trying to rip the wing from his mouth. She kept a solemn smile glued on her face the whole time as she watched. Still, something about this didn't seem right. "You don't have to come if you don't want to Rigby," she said.

Both Mordecai and Rigby stopped their fight and looked at the red robin.

"You don't have to force him to come, Mordecai," she continued. "It could just be you and me."

The blue jay took in a large breath, causing his chest to expand outward. Was this it? Was this her own little way of asking him out on a date, finally? He didn't know what to think of it, or even what to say. He took in the breath hoping to say something smooth, but just kept it in, until finally letting it out in two large puffs, exhaling a "yeah" and an "okay".

"Great," she said in acknowledgment, "I'll meet you at the gate of the park at about 6:15. How's that sound?"

"Yeah… Okay…"

"Alright then! Oh, and bring a little extra cash. I might wanna get something to drink on the way back. They just opened a new novelty drink shop a few blocks from the mall, and I wanna check that out too!"

"Yeah… Okay…"

"Sounds good! I gotta clean the benches around the park now, so I'll see you later Mordecai!" The robin then walks over to the counter and rubs her wing across Rigby's belly, causing him to jump up in disapproval.

"Hey, hey, hey," he snapped, "keep it above the waist. In fact, keep it all away from this."

The raccoon then proceeded to move his hands from his head to his toes, showing off all the areas she's not allowed to touch.

Margaret raised an eyebrow and put a hand on her hip. "You weren't saying that last week when I started scratching that one spot on your neck."

Mordecai's eyes perked up. "What! Last week! When did this happen!"

She didn't answer, but instead grazed her wing at the bottom of Mordecai's neck and slid it up his chin and across the bottom of his beak. "See you later, Mordecai."

Rigby groaned upon seeing that display of "affection". It had become common place for her now to tease the males whenever she felt it. While the rest of the staff saw it as hilarious to watch everyone's reactions (especially Mordecai and Rigby's) to her false advances, Rigby couldn't help but find it a little cruel (though admittedly funny) that she would do that to his best friend.

She didn't mean any harm, and didn't do it to actually hit on any of the males there. Margaret knew that none of the males, save for Mordecai, had any interest on her, so she just let herself joke around and make fun of herself. Though, Mordecai did tend to take some her flirtatious gags a little too seriously.

"Dude," Mordecai began as he watched the girl walk away, "this is it."

"What?"

"I think she actually wants to go out on a date with me."

"This again?"

"I'm serious this time, bro! I think she really has a thing for me. Did you see the way she flirted with me back there."

"She does that to everyone. Did you see her rub my tum-tum?" the raccoon asked in a playfully low voice while pointing both index fingers towards his belly.

"Dude, this is different! I can totally feel a connection between the two of us this time!"

Rigby groaned again at his friend's stupidity, which was funny in its own right, since it was usually the other way around.

Mordecai noticed his friends disapproving groan and couldn't wait to comment. "What? You don't think it's real this time?"

This time? Rigby rolled his eyes when he heard his friend speak this. It was really almost pathetic. How many times has this happened the past few months since she had started working there?

"You do this every time, man," Rigby commented. "You get your hopes up cause you think she's flirting with you, which she's not, and then when you try to get her alone, she says something or does something that tells you it meant nothing."

Mordecai sneered at his friend.

"Face it, dude," the raccoon continued. "She's just not that into you."

"You're just jealous," Mordecai told him.

"Jealous?"

"Yeah! You're just jealous because I want to spend more time with her than you."

Rigby sighed again. "Of course I'm jealous!" This song and dance was getting old. "You know, lately," he started, "you've been spending more time with her than anyone else. She has to tag along with us every where she goes, she has to come do chores with us even though they aren't her chores, she has to come sleep on the couch with us."

Mordecai couldn't stand to listen to his friend's complaints, as true as there are. Margaret's employment at the park had given the blue jay the opportunity he had been looking for: an infinite number of chances to finally ask Margaret out. It was true that she was always off with some guy at the time, but the shelf life of each boyfriend was surprisingly small, ranging from three days to two weeks usually. In between men, Mordecai found himself hanging around the robin more often, and inviting her to every little thing he did around the house, park, and city. Rigby didn't mind hanging out with her at first, but when it came to the point where she was always hanging around them, he refused each and every invitation to her and always tried to stop it from happening. Mordecai kept his friend shut most of the time, threatening this, and punching that, and just being an all around selfish person to the raccoon whenever Margaret was around. Rigby couldn't stand it, because it made himself feel like a third wheel that Mordecai didn't care about.

"And you promised," the raccoon complained. "You said that we were going to do stuff in the city without Margaret. That it was going to be a guy's night out, just you and me."

"Change of plans," Mordecai responded to him. "I mean, how many chances do I get to be alone with her?"

According to Rigby's calculator inside his brain, since Margaret had been employed, she and Mordecai had been alone together a total of thirty-seven times, the average span of which lasted from sixty seconds to half an hour. This was plenty of time to actually ask the girl out on a legitimate date.

"This is gonna be great," Mordecai chimed, "this is definitely gonna work out."

Rigby wasn't so sure.

* * *

Mordecai arrived at the entrance to the park almost a full half an hour before Margaret was said to arrive. He wanted to be punctual and neat. He needed to show her what kind of man he could be and how it was going to work out. The blue jay had opted out of dressing high class, instead choosing something a little more domestic with a black tie around his neck (which Pops had to tie for him).

He waited patiently there for his "date" to arrive, wondering if she was going to come dressed up or down. Was she going to be wearing earrings, or perfume, or anything special like that? What if he was too dressed up himself? Even if it was just a tie, it might have still been too much. And Rigby. What about Rigby?

He glanced around his surroundings to try and see if the raccoon had made any attempt to follow him and spy on their evening. It wouldn't be the first time. Rigby was just too dang nosey for his own good. Luckily for Mordecai, the young man had decided against spying on the two of them and remained at home.

Out in the distance, Mordecai could see a golf cart approaching him. As it got closer, he could see Margaret in the driver's seat, with Skips next to her, pointing at various parts of the dash board and steering wheel. Apparently, the yeti was allowing her to borrow the cart for the evening.

"…and that's all there is to it," Skips finished as the cart came to a halt in front of the entrance. "Make sure you have it back by 8:00pm, on the dot. That clear?"

Margaret flinched at the yeti's stern approach to the golf cart. That strange child like fear about Skips formed in her stomach again as she nodded quickly. The large man nodded back and exited his cart. Without even acknowledging the blue jay in front of him, he began to skip his way back to his little shack in the middle of the park.

"Still creepy," Margaret whispered under her breath. Her sights turned to Mordecai in front of her. She smiled and waved her hand to the male to come on in.

Mordecai wasn't sure what to think of this. She was driving? Shouldn't the gentleman be driving so that she doesn't have to do anything?

"I can drive," Mordecai blurted out. "I mean… if you want me to."

"Its fine," Margaret answered with a neutral expression on her face. "I should learn to drive this thing anyways. Hop on in!"

And so he did, though a little adamant at first. Deep down, he was hoping that she wouldn't be doing everything the rest of the night. He needed to show off his chivalrous qualities somehow.

* * *

Rigby often wondered why Benson had to be so cheap on certain things. He didn't mind splurging when it came to keeping the park in its best condition. But god help the world that Benson and anyone else who runs the finances around the park should spend twenty dollars a month to get some basic cable running on the television. Not like it would have mattered anyways. Rigby would still be sitting there complaining about nothing on, and thinking about how his friend was doing.

The raccoon found himself once again in front of the TV staring at fuzz that scattered and danced across the screen. He didn't know what to do with himself. He was hungry though, that much he was completely sure of. The thought of going to Cheezer's or some other little cheap restaurant sounded absolutely fantastic, but he kept himself from going on the offset that he might accidentally bump into Mordecai and Margaret. He didn't want to make his night any worse by getting accused of spying on them.

The TV shut off with a flick of the power button on the remote. Rigby sighed to himself and jumped off the couch. He had found himself sighing a lot lately, only because it was getting harder and harder not to notice it. When he's left alone, he's left to his devices, which means that his mind begins to interrogate itself. The raccoon had spent the last few months trying to keep those voices out of his head but they were only getting louder and louder as time went on. Tonight especially.

He looked up the staircase leading onto the second floor. It seemed longer and higher than usual. Part of him was afraid that he could slip and fall. His mind was playing tricks on him again in this condition. He couldn't stand feeling this weak and vulnerable. He grunted and brought his first foot up.

One step at a time.

He started climbing the steps one at a time, making sure he didn't do anything stupid and hurt himself. As he climbed the mountain, his brain began to poke and prod at itself, almost like it was trying to annoy and agitate poor Rigby. It asked questions like, "why are you feeling so bored?" or "why are you feeling so lonely?" He had all those answers though. It was because his friend wasn't there, that's all.

Was it really like that though? Ask him, and he would deny having any sort of feeling like that when he was around Mordecai. But lately, it was different. He did feel lonely and bored around his best friend. Everything Mordecai wanted to do lately only involved trying to get close to Margaret, and Rigby hated it. Nothing he wanted to do was being humored. It was all about trying to get close to that woman. And the more Rigby thought about, the more it made his blood boil.

Lately, he had found that he was becoming very bipolar around the robin. Rigby couldn't tell if he truly despised her with all his heart, or if she was just a generally sweet girl that he admired. She was strong and funny. Rigby liked that about her, but she wanted nothing to do with Mordecai. She liked him well enough, but maybe not in a romantic way. The raccoon wasn't sure about this though. He did remember how she said she would date him to see how he is, but Rigby never took that to heart.

He could never hate Mordecai for chasing after what he wanted most. It was admirable, but Rigby knew that nothing was going to come of it. No, that wasn't it, his mind told itself. It wasn't that nothing was going to come of it; it was that Rigby wanted nothing to come of it.

Part of Rigby's subconscious ached and moaned to keep the blue jay all to himself. Not just his friendship and his soul, but everything. He wanted his mind so that he could have someone who thought like him, his voice so he had someone to speak to, and he wanted to be the only one to be able to make the blue jay smile. He let out a small grin of his own when he thought about some good times from the past.

His body too. Margaret couldn't have that part of him, he hoped anyways. Rigby refused to allow her to even joke about that. These cravings that had suddenly washed over Rigby were uncontrollable. What do feathers REALLY feel like, and what did they feel like against fur? The raccoon had never had a real chance to really touch Mordecai's feathers. He got a hug every so often, but it wasn't enough to really "investigate". And there was something about that beak too. The curve and design of it and how it changed into something so enthralling whenever the blue jay smiled and laughed. How is it that Mordecai could have such a desirable body? He hated asking these questions, and he hated it even more when his body would react unconsciously to them, usually in the most awkward of times. He would shut them out and keep them hidden in a secret place, like what he was doing at that moment.

But those were easier to keep quiet. He didn't need to worry about cravings like that. He could just keep his mouth shut and all would be well. But there was something different that bottled up in his gut that only got worse and worse as time went on. Rigby kept denying it though, not quite sure what it was or if it had any connection with everything else he had been thinking about the past few months.

No, he would keep all of it bottled up and away from prying eyes. He would find a way to make sure no one ever knew about them until he had figured them out himself. That would take time though. He would just need to deny everything he thinks about that until he figures out what it all means. He would be himself and let all of his emotions hang out except for those ones. This was what he thought as he was climbing the stairs.

One step at a time.

* * *

"Prices aren't too bad," Margaret exclaimed looking at a chalk board with various drinks and prices scribbled on it.

Mordecai looked around the little hole in the wall drink shop they had stumbled into. It was definitely a far cry from the coffee house, that was for sure. It specialized in more fruit flavored goodies than anything, and there was really nothing strong or overpowering with the exception of some light flavored java. The blue bird definitely felt like a good cup of coffee right about then.

The "date" that Mordecai so called it in his delusional state, had not gone so well. When they got to the store of her choice, Mordecai was the first to jump out of the cart and over to the front door of the store to pull it open for Margaret. Unfortunately, he wasn't aware of the little girl and her mother who were pushing on the other side of the door, causing the child to fall on her face, and the mother to fall on her daughter. The bird wished that was the only thing that went wrong.

Margaret found herself in one specific part of that clothing store, looking for a jacket to ward off the incoming cold. Sadly, for Mordecai, the jackets were located right next to women's lingerie. And when Margaret started circling the area and ditching Mordecai for this and that, the blue bird found himself in the middle of shit storm.

"What a creep!"

"Why is he wandering around here?"

"Excuse me sir, are you lost?"

"Maybe someone should call security."

When he finally found Margaret again, he latched onto her like there was no tomorrow. A few snide comments from other on lookers later, and a trip to the check out line ended their excursion within the shop. Well, almost. As Mordecai pushed the entrance door open for Margaret, he failed to catch the attention of the father and son right in front of the store, slamming the door into the father's nose, causing him to fall on top of his son. Unlike the first group of parent and child though, this one was an angry force, and decided to chase both birds down as they made their getaway in the golf cart.

"Oh I know," Margaret said as she remained fixated on the drink menu in front of her. "I'll get something with passion fruit in it. Hmmm… what's rose supposed to taste like? Wanna split a drink?"

The blue jay focused his tired eyes on her and nodded kindly.

* * *

The sun had almost completely finished setting by the time they had returned to the park. Mordecai had taken it upon himself to drive this time, knowing all the fastest routes back to the house. He had calmed down since earlier and was actually ready to go to bed, even if it was still considerably early. The entire ordeal had been nerve wracking and even if this was the first real extended period of alone time the two had had together in a while, he still acted like a love sick fool, stumbling on some of the sentences he tried to say to her.

"I hope this thing doesn't shrink when I wash it," Margaret commented looking inside a little plastic bag with her purchase in it. "It was pretty cheap. I wouldn't be surprised, knowing my luck."

Mordecai gulped in his throat and tried to think of something witty to say, but as usual, had trouble having anything interesting come out. "Umm… yeah."

"Yeah?" she said in a questionable manner. "You think I'm unlucky now?"

"No," Mordecai exclaimed, kicking himself, "what I meant to say was… actually, the thing is…"

Margaret started laughing at his shy broken dialogue. "Relax," she said with a smile on her face. "You need to loosen up around me."

"Easier said than done," Mordecai unconsciously said. It took him a few seconds to realize what just came out of his mouth.

"And why is that?" Margaret asked him. "Is it cause I'm a girl?" she added putting emphasis on the last word.

"What? Wait! No, that's not it! I mean it is… but I mean, you are a girl… and… wait."

The female let loose a loud laugh that echoed through out the park. She really didn't say anything as she was laughing, enjoying this moment of hilarity caused by her blue friend. Margaret would never have laughed at him in the past, but getting to know him better allowed her to understand him a little better. She only hoped his sense of humor about himself around her would improve.

Mordecai blushed again, feeling that he had hit a low point. Skips shack was just within eye shot now, and the blue jay couldn't be happier to be done with this thing. He felt he screwed everything up, and wanted nothing more than to get home and try to drown out the whole experience. Maybe Margaret would forget by tomorrow morning? Probably not…

They parked the cart in the little car port that Skips had connected to his home. The yeti was waiting for them as they pulled in.

"Hi Skips," Margaret said still recovering from laughter.

The yeti raised his hand and only slightly waved to them as he stood in front of the entrance to his home. Both birds approached the man and relinquished his keys, dangling them in front of him.

"Thanks," Skips said taking the keys from them, "I'll make sure to get these copied for ya tomorrow."

Mordecai grew confused at this statement and looked to Margaret. "What is he talking about?"

Margaret's smile grew small as her eyes looked to Mordecai's. "Benson wants me to live here with Skips… you know, since there's no more room in the house for me."

Mordecai suddenly felt a million miles away when he heard this. Benson was trying to get Margaret out of the house? Or was it Rigby? Did they both work together to try and find a way to get the robin out of the house so that Mordecai could never have her? His mind was propagating crazy situations that always ended up working against him.

The red robin remained smiling lightly at Mordecai, gauging his reaction. "Skips said he's going to add on to the place. Build me my own room. Isn't that nice of him?"

"Yeah…," Mordecai sighed disappointingly, "that's great."

Margaret and Skips exchanged glances, and looked back at the obviously sullen blue jay.

"C'mon," the girl said to him, taking his hand, "let's head back to the house."

"It's not so bad," Margaret added as they walked away from the shack, "you'll still get to see me everyday."

"Yeah I know," he responded to her. "It's just that I had all that time and I didn't get the chance to say something to ya."

"Say something? Like what?"

The blue jay swallowed something in his throat and once again tried to say something, only this time, instead of even trying, he just gave up.

"Nothing," he sighed.

Margaret could tell that tired expression on his. She knew he was only trying to find the right words to tell her. It wasn't a proclamation of love obviously, but it was still something he wanted to ask; a legitimate date. She didn't understood why it was so hard for him to just come out and ask. Then again, she wasn't a twenty-three year old shy male blue jay.

"How's this?" she asked him gripping her hand on his a little tighter.

He looked down at the sight of them holding hands.

"It's good," he answered, a shy smile forming on his beak.

It didn't seem so bad. He had always thought about them holding hands walking along their merry little way. Sure it wasn't a sunset by the beach in their swim suits, and sure it was more friendly than romantic, but it was a start. He could feel that deep down in his heart, this moment was nothing more than two friends seeking comfort in one another. Neither he or Margaret felt any romantic inclinations at that moment, which was fine.

It made him feel like she didn't ignore him after all, like she wasn't oblivious to his advances on her any more. This made that hope within his gut a little bit brighter. He was happy that there was still a chance between the two of them, as faint and simple as it might have been.

When they arrived at the house, Margaret stopped, and looked up at the window leading into the bedroom. No doubt, Rigby was probably up there sulking up a storm about how his friend blew him off to go hang out with that girl. She felt a little bad about it. Didn't mean to take away the one night the two boys actually had planned together. And then she thought about what she and Rigby talked about some time back, and suddenly felt worse about the whole thing.

She turned her head to Mordecai, who was looking right her. She smiled and said, "isn't this the part of the date where you're supposed to invite me inside?"

"Date?"

Margaret giggled again, realizing that she laughed entirely too much. "I guess it's not a real date. But it was nice."

Mordecai didn't have anything to say. He just smiled some goofy grin, and gave a quick nod. An excitement began to grow from within him. Did she really just call this a date? Or was she just joking? Either way, it was a good sign.

"Hey," she started as she let go of his hand, "you should go apologize to Rigby."

"For what?" Mordecai asked.

The female shot an expression of annoyance right through his eyes, tipping him off that she knew exactly what was previous planned for the night.

"Yeah," Mordecai admitted, "I guess you're right."

"You guess?"

"I know you're right," he added, feeling a slight ting of shame creep across his stomach.

Her serious expression faded into a small smile. They both looked at each other for a few seconds before either of them said anything.

"I'm gonna stay out here for a few minutes and think," Margaret finally spoke. "You go on inside."

Mordecai nodded, knowing that their time together was finished for now. He took a deep breath and began to walk up the steps onto the porch. He didn't even get one step up, when he felt Margaret's hand grab his and turn him around. The blue jay was pulled into her space, his bare chest touching her shirt, as their beaks slid across each other. It shocked him at first, until he felt her beak open and her tongue graze along the bottom of his. He froze, and his mind completely emptied out of all knowledge. She was kissing him, and he had no idea how to react. His body felt like it had caught on fire, and was ice cold frozen at the same time. Mordecai had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Margaret, sensing his hesitation and tension, grabbed his other arm and wrapped it over her neck in a sweet embrace. She flicked her tongue along his beak a few more times to try and coerce him into the motion, a teaching exercise that she really didn't mind giving out.

After a few moments, Mordecai caught on and allowed him self to fall into the kiss, opening up his beak and brushing his tongue against the woman's. A lustful giggle escaped Margaret's throat as she rubbed her beak against his in the process, allowing herself to let go and enjoy the sensation.

A minute later, they pulled away quietly.

"So," Margaret started.

"So," Mordecai responded with a cracked voice.

"Did you like it?" the robin asked him. "You looked like you needed it."

The blue jay wasn't sure how to feel. He had just done something he had done nothing but dream and fantasize about for who knows how long.

"Yeah," he answered, "I liked it a lot."

"Good then," she commented.

Mordecai stood there for a few seconds, unsure what to feel or what to say.

"Does this mean," he began with a confused tone in his voice, "does this mean we're…?"

The red robin smiled at him before walking over to the steps and sitting down. "I don't know," she said as she knelt down. "Let's see what happens in the next few weeks, alright?"

Mordecai nodded still confused about what he and Margaret had just shared. She wasn't admitting any romantic feelings, so then why did she kiss him? What did any of this night even mean?

"Hey," the female interjected, "don't you have someone to apologize to?"

Rigby! He had completely forgotten about Rigby. Though he knew the little raccoon could wait for his apology while all that was happening. That kiss seemed a little more important in retrospect.

Mordecai nodded and quickly made his way up the steps, past Margaret, before he was stopped again by her hand grasping his arm. The first thing that came into his mind was if she wanted another kiss… or maybe something more?

"Let's see where this goes," Margaret said with an almost regretful look plastered on her face.

The blue jay nodded to her again and went through the front door, and quickly up the stairs. He walked into the bedroom to find Rigby staring out the window, down onto the porch.

"Hey buddy," Mordecai said, a little out of breath, "how ya doing?"

"How was she?" Rigby asked, getting straight to the point.

"How was she what?"

"You know what I mean," the raccoon raised his voice, turning to meet his friend's gaze.

The bird's eyes looked away from his little friend, darting back and forth between the raccoon and the floor. "You saw that, huh?"

"Yes I saw it," Rigby said in mocking voice. The little animal then proceeded to put his hands on his hips and huff at the blue jay.

Mordecai smiled and walked over to the bed. "Dude," he started as he jumped onto the mattress, "it… was… AWESOME!"

He started laughing like a giddy school girl, curling into a ball and then spreading himself out in excitement. "I mean I didn't see it coming, so it was kind of a surprise to me, but oh man… I mean… dude!"

"Yeah," Rigby replied walking over to his trampoline, "dude…"

He jumped onto it, bouncing a few times before settling himself on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Rigby didn't feel like talking about what he saw, and decided to just push the whole thing out of his mind and get some sleep. Sadly for him, it was still early, and he was still as hyperactive, and moody, as ever.

Mordecai sensed some frustration coming from the direction of his best friend and knew what he had to do. "Sorry about earlier."

"No you're not," the raccoon said miserably.

"Rigby, c'mon, you know I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You know I wouldn't do that to you on purpose unless it was meant to be funny. Remember that time I kicked you in the crotch?"

"That wasn't funny."

"It was to everyone else," Mordecai chuckled.

The small man groaned and turned his back the larger man. Mordecai sighed at his friend's behavior and did his best to make him feel better.

"Dude, this is like the first time since I've known Margaret where I've actually got a chance to finally be with her. You can't be mad about that, right?"

No answer from the person on trampoline.

"I'll bet if you were me, you would have done it too," Mordecai continued.

"No," Rigby started as his voice grew louder, "I would tell that B to go away and let me hang with my bro!"

That was not what Mordecai wanted to hear come out of his friend's mouth. In fact, that was the last thing he wanted to hear come out of his friend's mouth.

"Rigby! Don't call her that!"

"Well she is!"

"What is your problem?" Mordecai yelled sitting up from the bed.

Rigby mimicked his friend as he sat up from the trampoline and glared at the blue jay. "You want to know what my problem is? You're my problem," he screamed pointing his finger directly at Mordecai. His body leaned into the gesture as if to put more of an emotional load onto the bird.

"Oh look at me," Rigby said trying to impersonate his friend's voice, "my name is Mordecai! And I'll do anything for lady pecs! I'll even cancel plans with my best friend so I can hang out with this girl I'm scared of and get bird kisses and feel her up, and a bunch of other stuff I don't need, instead of hanging out with my best bro that I've known my whole life!"

"Dude!"

"And hello," Rigby said switching the tone of his voice to a much higher one, "my name is Margaret, and I'm a really nice girl. I have lady pecs, so you should come hang out with me and leave your friend alone all by himself, and break all those promises you made to him."

"Stop it, Rigby!"

"YOU STOP IT," the raccoon screeched at the top of his lungs. "I'M SICK OF YOU BLOWING ME OFF FOR SOME GIRL!"

His voice carried all the way through the house, and out the still open front door, right into Margaret's ears. She sighed deeply and placed her face into the palms of her hands, unsure if she should get involved or not.

"Dude, calm down," Mordecai tried to reason, "I don't want Benson coming in here."

"YOU CALM DOWN!"

"What's all the racket!" screamed Benson. His footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway.

Mordecai wasted no time jumping from his bed over to the trampoline, grabbing the raccoon and sealing his mouth with his wing. Rigby squirmed and kicked at him, trying to get himself free so that he could bitch out his friend some more. That was twice in the same day that the bird silenced his best friend.

"What's going on in here?" Benson asked peeking into the room.

"Nothing," Mordecai answered. "Rigby's just being Rigby."

"Well keep it down," the gumball machine screamed at the two of them before exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

Mordecai sighed again as he watched the door, wondering if all this was really worth the trouble.

"Are you gonna behave?" he asked Rigby in a strict voice, "or do I have to do this the whole night?"

He looked down at the raccoon, and found his friend on the verge of tears. He removed his wing from Rigby's mouth and looked down at him with a sympathetic annoyance.

The furry man hiccupped as he did his best to keep his tears in. "Wh-wh-why aren't we best bros anymooooore?"

"Dude," Mordecai said, "we are still best bros."

"But, but, but…"

"Okay! Okay! How about this? Next day off you and I have, we'll go do whatever. I don't care what. We'll just do whatever. No Margaret, or Benson, or anything like that."

"I don't belieeeeeeve you," Rigby sulked.

"I promise this time, man. I won't break it! We'll do something just you and me… just stop crying!"

"I'm not crying," the raccoon cried as he rubbed tears out of his eyes.

"Just… just quit worrying about me and Margaret. You're still my best bro, no matter what happens. Okay?"

Rigby didn't say anything.

"Okay?" Mordecai repeated himself, a little louder than last time.

"Fine," Rigby said in as quiet a voice as he could.

"Alright then," the bird said getting up. "I'm gonna go convince Benson not to tear us a new hole for you screaming up the place."

As he stepped away from the trampoline, the raccoon reached up and grabbed the blue jay's hand, causing him to falter for a moment.

"Dude, I said I promised. What more do you need?"

Mordecai looked at his best friend. Rigby was staring vacantly at the floor, refusing to meet his friend's glimpse.

"Rigby?"

He didn't get a response again.

"Is there something else the matter, dude?"

The raccoon continued to stare into space, looking as though he had something important to talk to Mordecai about. But a moment later, he let go of his friend's hand, and allowed his own to limply fall to his side.

"No," Rigby said sadly, "nothing."

"You sure?" Mordecai asked with some minor concern.

Rigby nodded.

"Okay then," Mordecai said, not sure if his friend was truly alright or not. He stepped over to the door and opened it. As soon as he did a gumball machine, a lollipop man, and red robin all toppled down to his feet.

Benson scrambled to get up saying something about fixing that door, and snatching up Pops who was commenting about how much fun eavesdropping was. Margaret looked up at the blue jay and smiled. He sighed at the girl and helped her to her feet.

"Sorry," she said with an embarrassed smile.

"It's alright," Mordecai told her. "I gotta go talk to Benson. I'll be right back."

She nodded to him before he passed by her and walked away to catch up to Benson and Pops. Her attention shifted to the raccoon on the trampoline, who had now resorted to hugging his own tail for comfort.

"Rigby," she started, "I'm sorry about earlier. I really didn't think you'd mind, and Mordecai was just so excited, and you guys didn't tell me you had plans, and I honestly didn't know until I thought about, and I'm really sorry about it and-"

"What was it like?" he asked her.

She was caught off guard by his sudden questioning.

"What do you mean? What was what like?"

He looked at her with blurry eyes. "Downstairs on the porch… what was it like?"

When she realized what he was talking about, she sighed deeply and walked over to him. "Oh, Rigby," she said with concern on her face as she placed her wing on his head and began to scratch softly.

The little raccoon felt like he wanted to start crying again. But nothing came out.

_Cold Shoulder - Adele_

**Author's Notes**

If you go to a drink shop and they have the option to try a drink with rose in it, try it. It tastes very delicious. You know, I don't have much to say about this chapter. It was a fun one to write and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I guess that's probably because I'm actually writing into the romance. Action and craziness are fun and all, but these next couple of chapters were fun to write to advance the plot romantically. What did you all think? The Cold Trilogy will follow the same formula of dates and hinting romance. Yay~! Look forward to the rest!

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	13. Cold Part

**Chapter Thirteen**

**The Cold Part**

"So did Mordecai say what you guys are gonna do tonight?" Margaret asked as she took another bite of cereal.

"Not really," Rigby replied to her, leaning back in his chair. "Hope it's fun."

The raccoon had found himself in much better spirits these days, and was actually quite ecstatic to find out where he and Mordecai were going to have their guy's night out. Wherever it was it would have to be cheap. None of them had gotten paid yet, and most of the places to go hang out at were terribly expensive. But even then, paying six dollars to go see a movie seemed a bit pricey at the moment.

Margaret watched the mammal lean back and forth in his chair as she took a gulp of her food. "You guys can always just walk around town and talk. That's what a lot of the dates I went on were like."

Rigby ceased his tilting and stared down at Margaret with slightly annoyed eyes. She gave a split second look of apology before correcting herself.

"Sorry," she said, "you know that's not what I meant by date."

Feeling more relaxed after her apology, the raccoon resumed his leaning and continued to stare straight ahead. "Besides," Rigby said as he took a great lean back, "it's supposed to be freezing tonight."

Margaret had forgotten for a moment the weather forecast. It was a prediction of single digit chill the whole day with a near certain chance of a snow storm, definitely not something to look forward to. She was certainly happy that she bought that jacket when she did.

"But you know, dude," Margaret continued, "you might get lucky and get a kiss."

"Dude?" Rigby said almost flabbergasted.

Margaret looked at him quizzically. "What? I can't say it?"

"Well of course you can't say it, you're a girl."

"And why can't girls say it?"

"Because it's a guy thing."

The robin dropped her spoon into her cereal bowl whiling giving Rigby a "serious" look. A grin spread across her face as she watched him. "Well if it's, like, totally a guy thing I'll just keep my mouth shut," she said in a playfully mocking valley girl accent. "But c'mon girl, you have gotta admit that that boy is fine with a capital F."

Rigby ended his ride on the chair again, letting the legs fall back to the ground as he listened to the girl talk. She winked at him after a moment as they continued to gaze at each other. A few seconds later, they both burst out into laughter, the duo holding their guts at the insanity of it all.

"Well that was entertaining," Margaret added as she picked her spoon up again.

"You should totally do that around Mordecai when he gets up," Rigby said excited.

"Totally?" Margaret asked.

"Tooooooooooootally," Rigby responded in as loud a voice as he could. They both tried to hold in their chuckles again, but failed miserably.

* * *

Benson sighed as he looked up at the dull grey sky above him from the park bench he was sitting on. It was going to start coming down anytime now, he just knew it, and the park wasn't even ready for winter preparations. Why would it be though? It was the middle of April. It was springtime and there were weather reports of a large scale snow storm coming into the city area, so the park getting snow was inevitable. The gumball machine tightened the scarf around his neck as a frigid wind blew.

"Here," said a voice from above him.

Benson looked up to find Skips looming over him with a mug in each hand. He passed the mug closest to the automaton down to him, which the sitting man happily took.

"Its green tea with sapphire," the yeti commented in his usual drab voice.

The gumball machine took a quick sip of the warm concoction, trying to piece together the bizarre aroma and flavors. It wasn't to his liking. It had a sort of bitterness that attacked your taste buds and burned all the way down your throat. It was a very warming tea, so he wouldn't complain about the taste if it kept him warm in the single digit weather outside.

He and the yeti exchanged a few short words about the condition of the park and all the chores that still needed to be done before the snow fall came. After confirming these things with each other, Skips skipped away into the distance to finish his work, leaving Benson to sigh with a coffee mug full of tea he really didn't like. He took another sip and frowned at the taste. He looked at the hazy green liquid in the cup and watched it swirl and move. Benson flicked the cup behind him without looking, causing the tea to spill out onto the cold ground. He looked back into his empty mug to see a few drops of the drink left in it.

He didn't feel well. Something inside him didn't feel well, but he just couldn't figure out what it was. He didn't feel like working that day. What he was more in the mood for was to go back home and just lie in bed and do nothing. Something just didn't feel right. But he wasn't quite sure what. He had this sneaking suspicion that something was going to happen, but not sure what. Like something was coming.

Benson picked himself up from the bench and began to walk away. He stopped after a few steps and looked around. Was someone watching him? It felt like someone was watching him. And it was familiar too, but he couldn't sense who though. Instead of dwelling on his paranoia though, he sighed and walked along.

* * *

"Dude," Mordecai exclaimed, "let's just go rent a movie."

"A movie?" Rigby moaned. "But I actually wanted to go out and do something."

Margaret sat on the stairs across from them as they pulled on some winter clothing by the front door. "In this weather?" she pondered to Rigby.

"You're not in this conversation," the raccoon retorted.

"Dude," Mordecai reprimanded.

"Well she's not," Rigby defended.

"Well I'm not," Margaret joked along with him.

"Yeah, well," Mordecai started as his beak blushed a bit, "he shouldn't talk to you like that."

The bird on the stairs smiled as she stood up from the steps. "I can take care of myself Mordecai, don't worry. You should be more worried about yourself. You are enjoying an evening with Rigby."

The blue jay chuckled as he turned to look at his best friend. "Yeah," he agreed with her, "who knows what kind crazy thing he'll do tonight."

Both birds laughed to them selves as Rigby let out an exasperated groan and ran out of the house screaming, "lets just do this!"

Mordecai let out another laugh before looking over at Margaret's direction. "You sure you don't wanna hang with us?"

The robin rolled her eyes at the bird. "You guys are going to hang out with each other tonight, no female accomplice included."

"You sure?"

Margaret took a few steps down from the stairs to meet Mordecai at eye level. "First off," she began, "Rigby would kill both you and me if I hung out with you guys tonight. And second off, I'll be fine. Pops loaned me a book that he thought I might like so I'm just gonna hang out upstairs and read it tonight."

She then turned the blue jay around forcibly and began to push him out the door. "You two go do what you usually did before I moved in and enjoy it."

The young man was then kicked out of the house with the door slammed shut behind him. Mordecai sighed under his breath, not believing her, but decided to try and enjoy the evening with his friend. He looked down at the bottom of the porch to his friend, waiting and ready for an evening with his bro.

The good thing about the video store was that it was one of the very few shops that was actually located right next to the park, so the duo wouldn't have to suffer in the cold for too long. The two of them discussed what kind of movie they would want to see. Sadly, the two of them had completely different tastes in movies and it made it difficult to pin down a selection before they arrived at the store.

One of the employees grimaced as the two of them walked in from the cold. He knew that these two had a history of late rentals and always made a big deal about them. The employee slinked around to the back room of the store and did his best to remain hidden from the bird and raccoon combo.

Other than that though, the place seemed relatively empty for such a cold day. This could be contributed to the rise of internet streaming, but who's to say. Mordecai and Rigby always loved the ability to just walk into the store and just debate on what to watch for the night. Especially when both of them ended up with ten movies in their arms as they tried to argue their way down to one.

"Shy Guy in the City just came out," Mordecai said with a giant grin. Of course the sequel to his favorite movie was going to peak his attention. Rigby, on the other hand, wasn't as excited.

"No way, dude," the raccoon argued, "we should totally get Blue Jay Way: A Bloody Good Time!"

The two of them argued at each other, sometimes raising their voices to get the point across. But in the end they decided on something in between: a romantic comedy with horror slasher elements.

Now all they needed was food and they would be set for the evening. And what better place to go then their favorite grill cheese restaurant.

The cold had caused a lot of people to stay in tonight, so even Cheezers was surprisingly dead, which was a major advantage to the both them. Something warm, fattening, and delicious sounded so good to them right then. Upon entering the little fast food joint, they were surprised to see that the line to the cash register was vacant, as the employee waved them along to the front.

"Nice," Mordecai said with a grin as he got in line, the plastic bag from the video store rustling as he moved.

The blue jay ordered their usual grill cheese with a side of potato slammers, and paid the lady, who seemed like she did not want to be there. Two small empty cups were then passed to the boys along with a receipt for Mordecai.

"Here," Mordecai said as he passed his cup off to Rigby, "I'll wait here for the food. Go get me a diet soda from the fountain."

"Diet?" Rigby asked him, "you don't need a diet whatever. No, what you need is a-"

"No suicides, Rigby," Mordecai cut him off. "The last time you made one of those for me I was leaning over the toilet the whole weekend."

"You just didn't make it right," the raccoon countered as he walked away.

"You made it for me," the blue jay corrected his friend.

Rigby walked slowly toward the soda fountain machine with the intent to prove his friend wrong, and make his friend a suicide he would never forget. Now what would he add though? How about a cherry cola, with some lemon lime, vanilla, chocolate, and root beer to top it all off? That sounded like a plan to him!

When the raccoon had finished the trek to the machine, he realized his height once again gave him a disadvantage. The counter was above him and he had to get up there somehow. Where was the nearest chair?

"What's your poison?" clanked a male voice above him.

The raccoon glanced to his side and up to find a friendly walking and talking… trashcan? It didn't phase him that much, seeing as his employer was a gumball machine. It apparently was a flip top trashcan that required the used of a foot pedal to open the top. It had thin arms and legs just like Benson's, but unlike Benson, these feet wore shoes. Expensive shoes by the looks of it. And was that a fedora on top of his lid?

"Uhh…," Rigby coughed out. He wasn't sure how to respond to this thing in front of him.

"What are you drinking?" the trashcan asked him again, his head flapping open and closed as he spoke. "I'll get it for ya, shorty."

That made more sense to the raccoon now. He handed the wastebasket the empty cups and gave him his drink orders: two suicides, each one with a completely different recipe.

"One weird little thing," the bucket said as he filled the cup with a variety of flavors, "and one diet soda."

Rigby hesitated for a moment before taking both cups. That wasn't what he told the trash can to get Mordecai.

"I over heard you and your friend talking," he answered Rigby's unsaid question.

"Oh," Rigby said disappointingly, "thanks."

"Name's Richter," the trashcan said as he extended his hand to the raccoon.

Rigby had to put one of the full cups down before extending his own hand out to officially greet the man.

"Rigby?" Richter said with some interest in his voice, "that's a fine name."

"Thanks," the raccoon said with a narcissistic grin forming on his face. "I think it's a great name! Show's everyone that I mean business!"

Rigby then proceeded to kick and punch the air to show off his grit to this stranger, which was rewarded when the man looked at the raccoon with growing curiosity.

"Adorable," the trashcan said as he took a sip of his own drink. "You certainly have a lot of energy, don't you?"

"I just know how to enjoy the finer things in life. Like suiciiiiiiiiiiiiiides," Rigby yelled as he took a great big gulp of his drink. "That went down smooth!"

In truth it didn't. It tasted like someone had thrown a pile of needles and nails into a soda drink and called it ambrosia. However, Rigby enjoyed the taste and believed it was something that helped you grow hair (fur) on your chest.

"Amen to that," Richter agreed as he raised his drink into the air.

Rigby's was shocked that someone actually agreed to him on that subject. "You're drinking a suicide?"

"Well," the trashcan started, "it's not really one. It's just fruit punch with lemon soda, but it's a start right?"

"You should add some cola and chocolate in there! It'll blow your socks off!"

"Yeah, and send you into the toilet," came Mordecai's voice from behind. The blue jay approached the two from the counter, holding a small bag with there dinner, as well as the bag with their movie in it.

Richter nodded at the taller male. "It can't be all that bad. Let me take sip."

And then the trashcan took the cup right out of Rigby's hand and took a quick drink. He swished it around in his trash hole, before swallowing it down.

"Well, well?" Rigby asked, "How is it?"

"It's… unique," Richter answered in a low voice. It was terrible, actually, but the man wasn't going to dash the raccoon's spirit.

The intercom suddenly cracked through the restaurant as a voice let loose. "Number 23! Your order is ready!"

The waste basket looked over at the counter, realizing his number had been called. "That's my food. I gotta get going. It was nice to meet you Rigby… you too Mr-"

"Mordecai," the bird answered him.

"Right, right… Mordecai." Richter then knelt down and gave Rigby back his drink. "And Rigby, if you ever wanted to try really enjoying the finer things in life, my number is 555-5000."

Mordecai went wide eyed as he heard this. His attention focused solely on the trashcan. It winked at his best friend, got itself up from off the floor, collected its food, and exited the premises, the blue jay watching him all the while. He looked back over to his friend who was obliviously drinking his poison with a smile on his face. He stopped momentarily when he noticed Mordecai's shocked glance on him.

"That guy seemed nice," Rigby said nonchalantly.

"Dude," the bird began, "you just got hit on by a dude."

* * *

The book was terrible. That was the conclusion that Margaret had come to as she put the book down on her chest. The robin thought that it would have been a good read after the review that Pops gave it, so when she laid back on the bed with some nice literature, she wasn't expecting this. It was all depressing sub plots, and nonsensical plot twists. The characters were stilted and one dimensional and no one ever seemed to learn anything from their mistakes. Next time she was going to make sure not to listen to any recommendations that Pops has for her.

For a few minutes she decided to pass the time by watching the closed book on her chest rise and fall as she took in deep breaths. It was entertaining for all of two minutes before the boredom began to weigh in on her. She had heard the boys come back with their entertainment a while earlier and dared not venture downstairs. She knew the moment her feet touched the last step, Mordecai would be all over her and his evening with Rigby would be ruined. The relationship that she had with the raccoon was already bipolar, so she didn't want to damage any of the good parts of it.

Relationship. What a funny word. The more she thought about it, the more the same conclusion came to her.

"I shouldn't have kissed him."

It was a mistake that she had come to grasp when she saw the look on Rigby's face a few days earlier. Why did she do it? She told Mordecai it was because he looked like he needed it. That was true. He did look like he could use some lovin' here and there, and where's a better place to get it than from a girl you have a crush on. It really wasn't meant to be anything romantic. More lust filled she would have to say; pent up lust that she had kept bottled down in her gut for a while now.

"God damn it," she cursed herself as she sat up from the bed.

Who was she kidding? She needed that kiss more than Mordecai. She needed it to prove something, though she wasn't sure what. There was something inside her that needed to do what she did, to do what she had been doing to the poor bird this whole time. And the more she flirted and teased and got Mordecai's hopes up, the more it hurt her.

But she needed it. She needed to feel that touch, that connection, that lust…

As her mind wandered into forbidden territory, she closed her eyes and allowed one of her wings to gently caress the side of her body. A deep sigh was released from within her as her mind scrambled to find the right choice of partner for this dance. Blue feathers maybe, or darkly striped fur? She wandered what it was like with a gumball machine, or if the mating habits of the Lolliland men were any different than her own. Or maybe Skips, that handsome, though terrify figure of his looming over her. She gasped as the thought of all them, the image changing every second as her hand grazed across her chest.

When was the last time she had really had time like this to herself? Mordecai and Rigby were downstairs and the little raccoon would keep his friend from visiting. Pops and Benson were off at Skips' house, still drawing up plans for her new room. The entire upstairs was to her self. She took in a deep breath when her feathered fingers slid down to her belly.

"Stop it," something inside her screamed.

Her eyes opened to the image of the ceiling above her. The images swirling inside her head disappeared and the urging for lust calmed. Her beak felt dry, so she licked it and tried to regain her self. The hand that had been playfully moving across her body had stopped on the navel of her stomach and was awaiting further orders.

Margaret hadn't really done anything like this at someone else's home on someone else's bed. It was always with own bed, in her own home. How was this any different? Wasn't this place her new home now?

She felt a chill run up her spine as she realized how pathetic it sounded. The many boyfriends she had in the past were beginning to catch up to her, and what they all really meant. She claimed that she was looking for love and Mr. Right. Wasn't she? Well wasn't Mordecai acting like that though? Mordecai and his gentleman manner. Mordecai and his kind personality. Mordecai and his shy demeanor. Mordecai and those blue feathers. Those blue feathers that ruffled in the wind. Those feathers that seemed so inviting.

Her mind drifted away to those dark little places again. Her wing resumed its march. As her ballet continued her mind began to pound again with questions she could not answer.

She felt cold.

* * *

An earth shattering scream erupted from the television as the doll faced mask man plunged his knife into the terrified teenager repeatedly. Mordecai shot out a snigger at the sight.

"She got stabbed," he said stating the obvious.

The screen blacked out a few seconds later and the credits began to roll with the sounds of a 1980s anthem playing in the background. Mordecai got up from his chair and ejected the tape from the VCR.

"That was better than I thought," he commented stretching his body out. "What did you think?"

When he turned to look for Rigby, he found the raccoon buried underneath a mountain of pillows, shivering in fright.

"Dude, again?" Mordecai complained. "No more scary movies from now on."

"I'm not scared," Rigby said in a muffled voice, "I was just cold is all."

"Sure you were, dude," the blue jay commented as he sat down on the couch next to his friend. "Well you gotta come out of there at some point. The couch is still my bed, you know."

"I'll come out when I'm good and ready," the raccoon said in quick response.

Mordecai let out another low chuckle. "Okay man you can 'come out'… whenever you're ready."

Rigby grunted under his breath and tried to shoot a look of annoyance at his friend. As usual, it had no effect on the blue jay.

"That's not funny," Rigby said with more annoyance.

"Dude, I'm just joking," Mordecai told him as he peeled one of the pillows away from the raccoon. "Quit taking everything so seriously."

His friend grumbled something inaudible under his breath before snatching the pillow away from his friend and putting it back where it was.

"You know I'm just playing with ya," the blue jay continued. "I mean how many times have you had a guy hit on you, Rigby?"

"Are we still talking about that?" Rigby asked.

All the way back to the house, Mordecai did nothing but joke and prod at the raccoon about the trashcan back at Cheezer's. Making jokes about how he was a fur chaser, or how he and Rigby would be the perfect match, or how maybe they should prank call him later in the night. Rigby had to listen to it all night, and it annoyed him to no end.

"Just let it go, man," the raccoon demanded of his friend.

Mordecai looked at his friend curiously and let out another laugh. "Awww… does Rigby have a little crush on a walking trashcan? Heh heh! You keep this up you two might make me jealous."

"I SAID LET IT GO," the raccoon screamed.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down dude," Mordecai said as he brought his hands up in defense. "It's just a joke, sheesh."

"Well, I don't like it," Rigby spit out. He shuffled in his fort of pillows, trying to get comfortable after screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Chill, man. Just chill," the bird told Rigby as he lay back on the couch. "You really need to chill."

They both sat there in silence. Mordecai didn't want to bring the subject up again, and Rigby didn't want to hear it. A silent mutual understanding had formed between the two of them.

"But you know," the blue bird began, "we should really find you someone."

The small one shuffled in his cocoon to make sure his eyes were focused on Mordecai.

"I mean, Margaret and I should be dating pretty soon… I think. And I don't want you to feel left out or anything."

The raccoon sighed under his pillows. "I already feel like that," he told his friend.

"Dude, I already apologized about that."

"Not that," Rigby said in a sad voice. "Just everything."

"Everything like…?"

The raccoon stood up from his fort, causing the pillows to fall all around them, a few off the couch completely. "Like all you wanna do is talk about Margaret, or hang out with Margaret, or think about Margaret. And then you two do your thing the other night, and I just kind of feel…"

"Lonely?" the bird finished.

Rigby looked away from him and nodded.

"Dude, that's the point of finding you someone," Mordecai told him, "so you don't have to be lonely and crap."

The mammal looked at his friend, trying to understand that Mordecai was looking out for him and forced a small smile. "Well," Rigby started, "there is someone… who I… kinda like."

The raccoon's head let out a deep scream before telling him, "don't even think about it!" But it was too late. It had already been said, and the curious glance that Mordecai was giving him told him the damage had been done.

"What?" Mordecai said with growing excitement in his voice. "Really! What's she like?"

Rigby's mind continued to pummel him and pleaded for the raccoon to stop this game at once.

"Well… they're…" Rigby tried to think of something to not make it sound so obvious. Something that was relatively generic and tell Mordecai nothing of their personality. "Tall."

"Tall?"

"Yep," the raccoon said, "they're pretty tall."

"Anything else," Mordecai asked him, feeling that the raccoon might be telling fibs.

"They're funny. And they like to laugh at me, but not in a mean way or anything. They just umm… they're funny."

"Dude, who doesn't laugh at you?"

That was a rather nasty statement that escaped from the bird's mouth. Still, he didn't mean anything by it. He was just trying to be funny. If only he knew who that person that Rigby was talking about was.

"So where did you meet her?"

"I don't remember."

"How long have you known her?"

"A long time."

"Is she hot?"

"Why do you care?"

"Have you and her done anything yet?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

Mordecai pursed his beak. He wasn't getting any of the answers he was looking for. In fact, he was getting no answers at all. The existence of this mystery female kept him asking though. He just wanted to make sure that she was a real life person, and not some make believe fantasy that Rigby had.

"Do I know her?" the blue jay asked him.

Now that was a question that Rigby could answer truthfully. "You could say that."

What was that supposed to mean exactly? By the sound of it, it seems like someone that Mordecai had met before, but wasn't aware of at the same time. Was Rigby trying to confuse him?

"Have you two even gone out on any dates yet?"

"Kind of," Rigby answered him. The raccoon could feel himself sweating bullets. The questions were coming fast one after the other, and it was difficult to think of the best responses so quickly. "It's kind of like the kind of stuff that we kind of like to do… kind of."

Rigby was nervous and trying to hide something. That much Mordecai was aware of. But still, he knew his friend could keep a secret about himself locked up forever if he had to. He was just too stubborn of a person to try and admit something. Whoever this elusive girl was, it was obvious that Rigby didn't want to talk about her. But why? What secret did she have that would keep him from telling his best friend everything. Didn't they usually tell each other everything about their day to day lives?

The bird scratched the back of his neck, realizing this subject was getting him nowhere. "Whatever, dude," he said with a sigh, "just keep me updated. I'd like to meet her one of these days, if she exists."

"They do," Rigby argued. He wasn't lying.

The blue jay smiled happily at his friend. He was glad that Rigby was at least showing interest in the opposite sex. He was beginning to think that his friend had no interest in ladies, or just had no interest in romance at all. It gave Mordecai a sense of ease to know that his best friend was growing up, even if he was miles behind everyone else. Still, it didn't stop Mordecai from trying to imagine who this girl was.

What kind of girl was she? Was she a raccoon or a human? Maybe it was a different species altogether. He remembered this one time he set Rigby up with a smoking hot female fox back when they actually made an attempt at college. Of course, that was more of a one night stand than an actual romance. A thought crossed the bird's mind. Could it have been that fox? She was taller than Rigby. Couldn't be her though. They only knew those two girls for a week before they cut off all communication. Mordecai smiled at the thought of himself and his friend's earlier years.

A small thud rocked the couch slightly as Rigby fell back onto the couch, following the lead of his friend. Mordecai looked over at his friend when he felt the soft crash.

"Does she even like you?" he asked Rigby.

"I hope so," the raccoon said with a sincere grin forming on his face, "I hope so."

Admittance was usually the first step.

_The Cold Part – Modest Mouse_

**Author's Notes**

As I've told many people already, I did enjoy writing these past couple of chapters as well as the upcoming ones. I've gotta advance the romantic plot lines some how don't I? This chapter seemed to dip into the more adult territory with Margaret didn't it? Well, guess what? The next chapter, the rating for this story goes up to M. Hope you all are excited!

_Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	14. Cold Days from the Birdhouse

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Cold Days from the Birdhouse**

The snow crept in that night, starting slow and steady, but gradually picking up pace as the night rode on. By morning, about two inches had already settled in, covering the park with a light sheet of white. Margaret was the first to see it as she looked out the window of the bedroom. A child like smile appeared on her face as she watched the sky fall with little bits of snow and flurry tumbling to the ground. It didn't look like enough to cancel work though. A robin's work was never done it seemed. She donned on her clothes and stepped outside the bedroom. A cold chill ran through the house as Margaret stepped outside the bedroom door. She was thankful that she kept the bedroom sealed from the outside world last night. Something warm and bubbly sounded good to her at that moment, so she descended the stairs to the first floor.

Her eyes instinctively shot to the couch, as they usually do to watch the blue jay sleep soundly. It was an adorable sight, if not funny for the positions the bird assumes in his slumber. Mordecai had taken to sleeping on his back the previous night, his head resting on the end of the couch with his mouth slightly open as a heavy breath escapes. At some point during the night, apparently, Rigby decided to move over to the bird and use his chest as a pillow. The raccoon lay curled up in a ball on the blue jay's chest, rising and falling as the bird took his breaths.

Margaret simply rolled her eyes at the sight and walked along to the kitchen. She rubbed some more of the sleep out of her eyes before approaching the overhead cabinet and pulling out a tub of coffee. As she was doing this, her other wing instinctively reached down to a cabinet drawer, searching for coffee filters. Something was wrong though. Her hand searched for one without her sight, but couldn't find any. The robin looked down into the open drawer and confirmed her suspicions: they were out of coffee filters.

"Great," she said sarcastically as she put the coffee back up. She slammed the cabinet door and drawer shut in a slight bit of morning crankiness. The sound shot through the air, causing Mordecai's eyes to flash open. He let out a grunt signifying his revival. Margaret kicked herself, realizing what she just did.

"Sorry," she called into the other room. "Didn't mean to wake you up." She sighed at her own stupidity before noticing something on the table.

Another groan escaped from the other room before turning into actually speech. "Dude? Again?" erupted Mordecai.

Margaret peeked her head in, to see what all the hubbub was about. Apparently, the blue jay had found his friend sleeping on his chest.

"What?" the raccoon moaned drifting in and out of sleep.

His taller friend rolled his eyes. "My back is fine, but my chest?" He then shoved Rigby off of his chest and down onto the floor. "That's just really gay, man."

Margaret clears her throat audibly, discontent with his choice of words. Mordecai catches on to her nagging and can only react with a, "sorry dude. I just woke up."

Rigby doesn't seem to mind and picks himself up from off the ground, stretching and letting out a long yawn. His eyes glance over to the window where he sees the morning flurries dance to the ground. He smiles as he runs over to the window to see the damage. He was disappointed to see only about two or three inches had accumulated before the snow began to slow down, but it was still something. It was still something to play around in.

"Dude," Rigby started, "we should have a snow ball fight!"

"Nice," Mordecai replied with a growing smile. "It can be me and Margaret versus you," he added with a chuckle.

"That's fine," the raccoon counters, turning his sights on his friend. "You two won't know what hit ya!"

"Sounds fun," Margaret said as she entered the room. "But we have chores to take care of first."

The red robin proceeded to hold up a piece of paper that she had found on the table in the kitchen. On the paper was a list of things to get done around the park while Benson was away. Apparently, the gumball machine had taken himself and Skips to Walls-to-Walls to pick up a new snow shovel. Evidently, the old one had broken into the splinters. This could be attributed to Mordecai and Margaret using the shovel to lacrosse Rigby across the park in a distance throwing contest. Margaret won. Mordecai lost. Rigby had fun.

"Uuuuuugh," the blue jay let out. "What does the slave driver want us to do?"

"Deice all the pathways around the park," the robin answered him, going over the note again. "It'll probably take all day knowing us."

"Probably," Mordecai said as he glared down at Rigby. The raccoon noticed and shrugged it off.

Margaret looked up at the ceiling and sighed with a frown. "The faster we start on it, the faster we can get it done."

"Which means a snowball fight later," Rigby said running up the stairs to get hit stocking cap and mittens.

Mordecai stood up from the couch, rubbing one of his shoulders that spiked with a mild pain from sleeping on it awkwardly.

"We're out of coffee filters by the way," Margaret sighed.

Mordecai looked at her and let out another long groan.

* * *

Traffic was a nightmare that day. God forbid that people should actually stay home when the roads are slick and dangerous. Everything was at a stand still thanks to three idiots running into each other in the middle of an intersection. The yeti and gumball machine sat unhappily in the golf cart, trying to keep warm in the middle of traffic. Benson was beginning to wonder if the snow shovel was really worth it. The Walls-to-Walls was packed with crazy people trying to get stuff, and he had the misfortune of having to beat a couple of people into submission to get out of the place. Skips helped of course.

"Ugh, why didn't I do this earlier in the week?" the gumball machine groaned as he rubbed his metallic hands together for warmth. It wouldn't do him much good considering the cold and snow stuck to him like a magnet. Whatever temperature it was outside, the metal and steel on him kept him roughly ten degrees below that. He felt as if he was going to freeze to death.

"Even you can make mistakes, Benson," Skips commented as he looked straight ahead into traffic. The yeti was completely unphased by the cold, sitting up straight as an arrow and wearing only his trademark blue jeans. He sneaked his head over slightly to see if there was any progress on the accident. Nothing it looked like, save for some injured passengers being rushed into ambulances.

"Yeah, well… I should have thought better about it," Benson replied to his previous statement. He shivered unhappily and continued to find warmth in someway or another. Skips watched his co-worker scramble for heat from some random sources and took pity on him. The yeti placed his arm over the gumball machine and hugged him tight, completely unflinching mentally or emotionally.

Benson struggled at first, but when a warm wave flew over his body he stopped complaining. "Thanks," he said with an embarrassed grimace.

"Whatever," the yeti replied to him.

They both sat there looking out at the traffic, not really acknowledging the situation, but still enjoying it none the less. Benson enjoyed the warmth he was receiving, and Skips… well… Skips was just neutral to be there.

The machine's mind shifted to the other day, when he had a feeling of unknown premonition. There was something in his cogs that didn't feel right, that something was right around the corner. Felt like he had seen it before and that it had something to do with the two idiots and the female back at the house. He just couldn't figure out what it was, or why he had that sudden feeling of déjà vu.

And then there was that feeling again. Like someone was watching him. Felt like more people this time though. Maybe two? He glanced around his surroundings only to see the nameless faces of drivers behind him and Skips. He could have sworn someone he knew was watching him. As he began to refocus on the traffic in front of him, a pain coursed through his head.

Skips noticed, and actually showed some concern for the man.

* * *

"A scarf and some boots are not enough to protect you from the cold Mordecai," Margaret said unhappily as she busted through the front door of the house with a shivering and half dead blue bird draped around her shoulder. Rigby followed beside her, carrying Mordecai's legs high over his head. The two of them quickly dashed up the stairs with their tow and rushed him into the bedroom. The robin threw him quickly on the bed, and stripped him of his scarf and snow boots.

The blue jay weakly struggled. "Rigby seemed fine though," he said trying to buck up.

"Rigby is also a mammal," Margaret argued. "He has fur!"

"But, but…"

"Don't argue," she snapped back as she threw the cold articles of clothing to the side. She spied the room looking for the raccoon. He appeared a second later in front of her brandishing some blankets that he had stolen from Benson's room, and "borrowed" from Pops.

It wasn't Mordecai's fault that the cold nearly killed him. He was just doing his job when he got really tired and collapsed on the ground.

Margaret could have kicked herself. She should of asked Mordecai if he had a jacket or anything when they were shopping a few days prior. He did have a hoodie of course, but for some reason he refused to take it. His reasoning? He wanted to impress Margaret by how resilient to the cold he was when she pointed out before they left that Rigby is lucky to not be too affected by the temperature.

The blue jay was buried under an ocean of blankets and sheets before they let up on him. "I'm fine. Really," he said as his beak chattered.

"Of course you are," Margaret told him sardonically. "Now you get warm, and don't come downstairs until you to!"

"Yeah," Rigby added with over concern, "don't go dying like you did that one time!"

"That one time?" Margaret asked.

"Long story," Rigby answered briefly.

The two of them left the room a second later, leaving the blue jay arguing, even after they closed the door to his displeasure.

"So now what do we do?" the raccoon asked the robin as they steps down the stairs.

The female sighed in his direction and tightened her jacket around her. "I guess we should go finish what Benson told us to do."

They both stopped on the middle step and let out a bellowing moan. The temperature was already below freezing, and they didn't look forward to getting pelted in the face by more snow. The wind had been picking up over the course of the day and it just made things worse. The snow ball fight that they had planned sounded like a terrible idea as each passing moment happened. Even Rigby, who could brave poorer conditions didn't want to go back out there. It really was turning into a terrible blizzard.

"Do we have to?" Rigby asked looking up at Margaret. "Can't we just not do it and say we did?"

Margaret had to admit, that felt like a sound plan. Unfortunately, Benson had been watching them like a hawk since the whole vine and ivy affair a while back. It made Margaret smile a little though. The whole time they were deicing the park, the beautiful garden that had grown after that event didn't have a single flake of snow on it. It was as though Zeus deemed the garden perfect and refused to allow it to be touched by any imperfection of any kind. Perhaps that's why they've been finding dead squirrels and moles nearby the garden who had tried to eat the flowers.

"Margaret!" the raccoon snapped at her.

The bird returned to reality and looked down at her raccoon friend. "Hmm, what? Oh! No, Benson would kill us. You know he's been double checking our work lately."

Rigby had forgotten. Stupid gumball machine, the raccoon thought. "Well then, what are we supposed to do?"

"Do our job, I guess."

They both groaned again and continued down the stairs. As they reached the bottom, Margaret stopped on the last step.

"Hey," she started, "do you wanna go do something after work?"

The raccoon pondered her question as he stepped down on the ground floor. "What do you mean?"

"Just you and me," she answered him. "No Mordecai. We can go out, get some dinner, hang around, whatever. Just you and me."

Rigby scratched the top of his head and gave the only response he knew how to say in that situation.

"Why?"

Margaret looked slightly taken a back from this question, but gave a smile none the less to him.

"Why not?" she answered.

As usual, it wasn't the answer that the raccoon was looking for. Another vague, riddle soaked answer that made him want to ask more questions. But, Margaret knew the raccoon's curious nature and tried to sooth his troubled mind.

"Mordecai and I did our thing, and you and Mordecai did your thing, so why not you and I go and do something without Mordecai? He's a big boy, he can handle himself without us for one night," she finished as she took the last step onto the floor.

"Doing what?" was the only thing he had to say.

Margaret didn't know exactly what they would do. She did want to get out of the house a little bit and spend some time with Rigby. They hadn't really hung out at great length since the garden incident, and now seemed like a good time than any.

"Well," she started, "what do you want to do?"

The small furry thing shrugged indifferently and walked over to the front door, afraid of what they had to go out and finish.

Margaret searched the database she called her brain and did her best to try and think of some places that Rigby might want to go to: A movie? Nothing good out right now. Maybe some shopping? Rigby had expensive tastes. Walking around? Too damn cold outside. The bird rubbed the bottom of her beak as she tapped her fingers along the end of the stair rail. Then suddenly…

"I know," she said, "one of my dates took me to an arcade by the coffee shop. It's got food, and a bar, and lots of great games to play."

Rigby thought about it. It did sound good. When was the last time he went to an arcade? The closest thing to an arcade they had visited was that abandoned room in the middle of the park with all those retro games inside. Hopefully this time there won't be any curses or horrors lurking inside the machines.

"Sure," he answered her as his hand reached for the knob of the door. "Sounds fun, I guess."

* * *

"We're going out," Margaret told Mordecai as she peek her head in through the bedroom door. The blue jay was up from bed in an instant.

"Hold on," he told her, "let me get ready."

"Actually, it's just Rigby and I tonight," she said with a slightly embarrassed expression.

Mordecai stopped in his tracks. He had already re-donned his scarf from earlier and was looking for dry socks for his boots. Rigby and Margaret actually wanted to hang out together? This did not compute in his mind. When did they ever want to be alone together?

"We'll be back before the snow starts coming down again," she exclaimed before closing the door and leaving him in displeasure once again.

He listened closely to the footsteps as they ran down the steps and stopped for a few moments, before resuming again and fading away. The sound of the front door slamming was the last thing he heard of it.

Mordecai clamped his beak together and looked around the room. He wasn't sure if he should feel let down or insulted. Something didn't feel right about this. Margaret and Rigby hanging out together without him? Something definitely felt wrong about that. In fact, everything felt wrong about that statement. When did they become friendly toward each other?

The blue jay sighed and pulled the scarf away from his neck, rolling it up into a bundle and throwing it across the room in a childish fit of anger. He stomped back over to the bed and sat down on the side. For a moment he sat there, with his arms crossed, symbolizing his mood of being pissed off. But it didn't last long when he realized just how cold the hard floor was. So he got back up from the bed and continued his search for socks.

"I wonder where they're going?" Mordecai asked out loud. "Must not be a lot of fun if they don't want to invite me."

He was seething from the sudden departure of his crush and his best friend. They were off doing who knows what, probably something fun, and he was left alone in the cold to do whatever. He didn't like that at all.

He found the first sock: a gift from Rigby to Mordecai. Brown socks with black stripes running across them, matching the raccoon's fur perfectly. While Mordecai didn't particularly like the gift, he got back at his best friend later by buying him light blue socks. Rigby took it worse, hoping for a video game or something cool. That was a fun birthday.

Mordecai looked at the sock and thought of his friend. He still couldn't piece together why he wasn't invited along with them. Maybe it was Rigby? Was Rigby mad at him about something? He knew that whenever the raccoon was upset at him that he wanted nothing to do with the blue jay. In the end though, Rigby would always give up and apologize and beg for Mordecai to come back to him. But Rigby usually announces his disapproval of Mordecai's actions and makes the whole world know it, so that wasn't it.

The bird huffed again and continued to look at the sock. His annoyed frown slowly changed to amusement as he realized that he was acting like Rigby: not getting what he wanted, feeling mad at someone for no reason, feeling like the whole world was against you. Mordecai let out a small laugh as he slipped on the brown and black sock onto his foot. It couldn't have been something like that. Rigby isn't the kind of person to be that conniving. Well, he was… but not that much anyways.

Mordecai looked around the room again for any signs of the other sock. It shouldn't be this hard to find an extra sock. Any sock will do. He took a look in his dresser and found nothing. He put a mental note to the side to do some of his laundry. A thought occurred to him, and he looked behind the dresser. As luck would have it. There was a bright red sock, caught between the dresser drawer and the wall. He examined it to see if there was anything wrong with it. It seemed good enough, so he slipped it on as well.

His mind drifted to Margaret. The color of the sock just reminded him of her, just like the Rigby sock. He wished he had acquired the sock in some way related to Margaret like the other one, but this was just one he bought when he found all of his socks had holes in them. It was nothing particularly interesting. Still, it made him think of Margaret and that was enough for him.

He remembered all the little signals she had been giving him over the past few weeks and how utterly apparent it was to him that she liked him the same way he like her. At least that's what he wanted to think. Her attitude of "we'll see" after the kiss they shared seemed a little off putting. Maybe she just got cold feet, or wanted to take things slow. He was patient though. He had come this far, and the spoils of war were always something to look forward to. He couldn't wait for the first real date, the first real kiss, the first real admittance of being lovers, and the first…

Mordecai let out a lustful smile as his mind wondered to that next stage. He thought about that part a lot. Being a twenty-three year old male did have its upside, or downside depending on who you talk to. His mind pondered when Rigby and Margaret would return from their outing. He knew he was going to be alone for a bit, so he could obviously make some time for "that". His lust filled grin widened.

The blue jay looked down at his feet at the strange combination of colors he had on. He chuckled at the two socks as he made his feet played with each other. As he was toying with his socks, something crossed his mind. What was it that Rigby was talking about the other night? That girl he had a crush on?

Tall?

Funny?

Liked to do things he and Mordecai liked to do?

The thought had crossed the blue jay's brain. He looked down as his feet again, at the swirl of brown fur and red feathers, and it became painfully clear why his crush and his best friend wanted to go out alone without him.

"Margaret and Rigby?" he pondered as his mind began to grasp the situation. Then he began to panic.

* * *

The screen on the arcade machine flashed "GAME OVER" as Margaret's ship was shot clean out of the sky. A name entry screen popped up a few seconds later. The red robin moved the joystick to the appropriate letters and typed in her initials. The high score screen appeared not too soon afterwards to show her at the top of the leader board.

Rigby stood in awe at the amazing amount of video game skill the robin had. "Whoa… that was better than Mordecai," he exclaimed, his eyes clued to her name on the screen. "When did you learn to get that good?"

She shrugged happily as the two of them walked away from the machine. "'Gotta do something when I'm all by myself in the apartment."

Rigby smiled at her, still impressed with her show of expertise. Mordecai played well, but not that well. Her fingers looked as though they weren't even touching the buttons, they were moving so fast. It made him feel a little insignificant when it came to his own gaming skills. He would never admit it of course. That wouldn't be the Rigby way.

"Well," he began, "I would have done better if my joystick wasn't broken. Or the buttons didn't stick. Or the game just wasn't so bad."

Margaret let loose a chuckle before reaching down and scratching the raccoon's head. "Suuuuuuure, Rigby. It's the machines fault."

"Well it was," he argued.

"Whatever you say," she continued to tease.

The arcade that they visited seemed simple enough. There was a wide collection of classic and new style games that littered the corner area. Rigby couldn't remember the last time he went to an arcade that still used tokens; made him feel right at home. The food from the restaurant portion wasn't too bad either, surprisingly cheap actually. The actual clientele on the other hand, was extremely shady. A good chunk of the patrons seemed to have something wrong with them, whether that was their attitude or their inability to hold their liquor. It spoiled the nice atmosphere that Rigby had started to like.

"C'mon," Margaret told the raccoon, "I'll buy you a drink..." She then looked at the remaining cash she had left. "Uh... a cheap one."

Rigby nodded to her and continued to observe his surroundings. "What a waste," he thought, "this place could have actually been awesome."

The duo approached some bar stools in front of the bar counter and sat down. Margaret peered to her left and then right in search of a bartender. Nobody was working around at the moment, so the two decided to wait.

"So Rigby," Margaret started again, "how did your date with Mordecai go?"

Rigby groaned audibly and rested his elbows on the counter. "It wasn't a date. We just hung out, that's all."

The bird gave a some what unbelieving expression to the raccoon. "So nothing happened? No epiphanies, no shocking revelations, no fighting, no kissy kissy?"

The raccoon glared at her with his usual expression, which caused the girl to shut her mouth. They both sat in awkward silence for a moment before she tried again.

"So he still doesn't know then?"

"Kinda," Rigby replied, realizing he just admitted it to her.

"Kinda!"

"Good evening," said the bartender as he approached the two, catching them off guard. "What can I get for you two?"

His sudden appearance caused the two to jump at first. The bartender cocked an eyebrow at the two of them before taking their orders. As he prepared their drinks he pondered why the weird ones always come out during the week.

Margaret had to recollect herself after the drink order. She wanted to figure out what Rigby meant by his little statement.

"What do you mean by kinda?" she asked him.

Rigby shifted in his seat, suddenly wishing he hadn't said anything at all. "Nothing! I didn't say anything. We just hung out, that's it."

Margaret didn't believe him. Something obviously happened, even if it was something minuscule. Their drinks came a second later. Apparently, she was going to have to drink the answers out of him. She motioned the bartender for two more as she took a sip from her glass. Her "wallet" was going to be hurting tomorrow. What she didn't know was that Rigby had his own questions to ask her, and if he had to drink her under the table, he would.

**The First Round**

It went down well enough. The effects of course wouldn't be felt at first, so all came down to the waiting game. Margaret wasn't trying to be cruel to the raccoon by getting him slightly tipsy to divulge his secrets. Far from it, she was just curious, and if she could enjoy a drink on the side as well, so be it. She noticed the raccoon's strained look as he took a sip of his drink.

"Not good?" she asked him.

"I don't like this type of beer," he answered as he took another gulp.

"Get a different one then."

Of course, he was going to, but he wanted to finish what he had first. He looked at Margaret and suddenly grew curious.

"So what are you and Mordecai now anyways?"

The question caught Margaret as she was raising her glass. She wasn't expecting the raccoon to bombard questions to her as well. A quick gulp of the glass and it was all gone.

"What do you mean?" she asks him.

"I mean are you two dating, or friends, or are you ummm… doing stuff?"

Doing stuff? While Margaret thought that Rigby's childish out look on life was adorable, there were times in which she wished he would just come out and say what he was thinking.

"You mean are we having sex?"

Rigby cringed at first, trying not to think of his friend in that act, no matter how strangely pleasing his brain thought it was. He mentally punched himself again for thinking that. Afterwards, he sighed and surrendered to her use of words.

"Yeah," he said coyly, "that…"

The bird leaned forward onto the counter and picked her empty glass up. She began to shake it slightly, causing the ice cubes in it to rattle and topple on top of each other.

"Not yet," she said as the second wave of drinks was delivered to them.

**The Third Round**

By the third round of drinks, their lips were starting to appear a bit more loose than before. Though they were happy that they were at least able to keep their balance.

"So he thinks that it's just a girl you like?" Margaret asked as she trailed her finger around the rim of her glass.

"Something like that," Rigby answered her as he took a swig of his beer. "Something like that."

"Well then what did you tell him?"

"That they were tall, and funny, and some other stuff. I don't remember actually."

"So you were telling him the truth?"

"I guess. I never said if it was a guy or a girl though."

That didn't surprise Margaret. Though she had lived with Mordecai for a while now, she still hadn't figured out his personality to the point. Who knows how he would react if he found out his best friend of nearly two decades has a crush on him. It could go either way she thought. He seemed like a caring enough friend to understand, but then again, he was pretty oblivious to it too. Then again, she was oblivious to Mordecai and look how that turned out.

"Hey Rigby," the bird said, "do you like girls?"

"Not really," he answered her quickly.

"So you like guys?"

"Not really," he repeated.

"So do you like anyone?"

"Not really."

Well that was productive. She was getting so sick of cryptic answers from him. All she wanted was one straight answer from him. That was all! Did he have a crush on Mordecai? Did he like Margaret as a friend? Was he gay? Was he straight? Was he even existing? Margaret couldn't take any of it. She wanted concrete answers, and she wanted them now.

"Well do you like me?" she asked him.

"I guess."

She slammed her wings down onto the counter, causing the raccoon to jump in his seat. "Rigby! Quit dodging my questions. It's a simple yes or no question. Which is it?"

She was expecting him to scream at her and make a big scene. Instead, he just shyly looked away from her and moved over to the empty bar stool next to him. He actually had a slight look of fear on his face. That wasn't like Rigby at all. It must have been the booze, the red robin thought.

"Sorry," she said as she moved over next to him.

Rigby didn't say anything after that. He just sat there and tried to enjoy his drink.

Margaret had forgotten what kind of drunk she could become.

"I think," Rigby began, "I think Mordecai is really lucky. I'm kind of jealous actually."

Jealous? Did he really just say that? Margaret couldn't believe what she just heard. She was sure of it now. It had to be the booze talking.

"Why?" she asked him. "Why be jealous of him? Here I thought you'd be more jealous of me."

"I am," he answered swiftly, "I'm really jealous of you actually. You can have anyone. Everybody wants to date you. Everyone finds you interesting."

Rigby leans forward and places his head on the counter. "Nobody likes me," he said sadly. "Everybody thinks I'm a screw-up, or some stupid kid."

"Mordecai likes you," Margaret said trying to cheer him up, "and I like you."

"Big whoop… two people out of billions, and you two will forget about me once you get married."

The robin exhaled a deep sigh. She placed her wing over the raccoons shoulder, hoping it would help him.

"Why do you keep thinking he and I are already an item," she said. "We haven't really done anything yet. I mean we kissed but…"

She hesitated before finishing. "…but I really shouldn't have."

Rigby looked up at her curiously. "Well then why did you do it?"

"Because I'm sick of men. I'm sick of having a boyfriend and losing him two weeks later cause of something stupid, I'm sick of having to feel broken every time I get dumped, and I'm sick of them not actually caring about my personality."

Margaret took another big gulp from her glass and slammed it down unsatisfied.

"They don't mind dating me for my body, that's not an issue, but when it comes to actually wanting to have a conversation, that comes dead last."

Her grip around the glass tightens as she thinks about it.

"It's not fair," she finished. "It's not fair to me, and it's not fair to Mordecai. I kissed him because it was something I instinctively did with all the guys I dated. I thought…"

Rigby watched her with full attention.

"…I thought it was the only way they would notice me."

Tears began to well up in Margaret's eyes. She didn't want to deal with it right now. Not while she was trying to have a good evening with Rigby. She didn't want to show weakness in front her friend.

The bartender passed by the duo on his rounds and noticed the girl crying. "Is your girlfriend alright?" he asked Rigby.

Margaret cleared her throat, trying to make haste and correct the bartender.

"You mean my fiancé?" Rigby corrected him in a confident voice.

Margaret's gaze shot straight to the raccoon upon hearing this. He looked right back at her with a smile on lips.

"That's right," he continued. "We're getting married next week, and she's just sad to lose her um… single life… thing. That's it! Isn't that right, baaaaaaaaby~?"

The raccoon then placed his paw on Margaret's wing and reached up to give her a quick peck on the beak. She blushed at the sudden change of personality and affection he was giving.

"Ummm… that's right. I mean…" the robin coughed out. She was trying to think of ways to go along with it, make it sound believable. "I've been single for so long, and then he walks into my life, and, uh… it's just a shock. You know?"

The bartender shrugged at them before telling the two of them, "congratulations."

"D right, congratulations," Rigby screamed as he threw his hands into the air. He gave Margaret a sly look before clutching her face in his paws. "Come 'ere baaaaaaaaby~!"

The raccoon forced his lips onto the bird's beak, winking to her as he did so. She was caught off guard at first, but slipped into the kiss a second later.

Rigby was certainly different from Mordecai. He was much more forceful, more in charge, more dominant. He had no problem opening his mouth and letting his tongue dance along with hers. It was powerful and oozed sexuality. The raccoon made his way to her neck, playfully biting into feathers standing on end, and allowing his hand to caress the other side of her collar. She giggled and gasped in delight.

She was usually the seducer, so this was something new to her. When was the last time someone ever actually did something to her like this? It may have been the booze, or it may have been her state of mind, but the raccoon was actually turning her on. She wanted more. Much more. And she didn't care who in the world saw it.

It ended too soon though as the raccoon abruptly ceased halfway through.

"He's gone now," he said with that smile still on his face.

Margaret found herself shoved back to reality, completely forgetting that the kiss was only there to fool the bartender.

The raccoon looked at her with a raised devilish eyebrow. "You alright, baaaaaaaaby~?" he said in a joking voice.

The bird had to clear her throat before answering. "Never better… but umm… Rigby?"

He nodded to her, curious to what she was going to ask.

"Are you like that will all your kisses?"

The furry animal shrugged and tried to give her an honest response. "I really only ever made out with this one fox chick that Mordecai set me up with. She said I was bad kisser."

"Really!"

Rigby nodded to her in confirmation.

"And did anything happen between the two of you?" she asked curiously.

"Kind of," he said, "same night actually."

"And?" Margaret pestered, eager to learn more.

"We never really finished, if you get my drift."

The bird didn't know what to think suddenly. All she knew was that she hated this fox whoever it was and wanted to beat the fur off of her.

**The Fifth Round**

The fifth wave of drinks descended on them just as fast as the rest, and the effects were nearly coming on full force. Anger, shouting, and interrogations toward each other made way for laughing, name calling, and even a little dancing.

While Margaret tried to hop and skip along to the beat of the music blaring from speakers above her, Rigby had relegated to twirling and dancing along her body, causing her to burst into laughter at some of the places he danced across. They were the only ones dancing, happily making a spectacle of them selves, but they didn't care. At that moment, the world was there's and they were happy just to be in it.

It took three more waves of drinks before they were eventually kicked out.

* * *

Margaret attempted to shush her small friend as they both entered the house in the dark. Both were giggling like crazy, finding the act of waking everyone up to be one of the most enjoyable experiences of their lives. As they entered the house though, they were greeted by the bright glaring glow of the kitchen light. Benson saw them come in. He was already a deep shade of mauve.

"DO YOU TWO HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS!" he screamed at the two of them.

"Time for you to get a watch," Margaret retorted as she pointed her wing at the gumball machine.

"Nice one," Rigby responded to her, content with her answer.

The robin wobbled suddenly and grabbed a hold of the couch to keep her self from falling over. A storm of laughter let loose out of her mouth as she hung on for dear life.

Benson's eye twitched as he realized what was going on. "Are you two drunk! On a work night!"

Rigby screamed "no" but his head was unfortunately nodding. Margaret giggled at his mistake while she kept her balance on the couch.

The gumball machine clenched his fists tight, but let go of them in an instant when his headache from earlier began to act up again. It hadn't gone away the whole day.

"JUST GO TO BED," he yelled at the two of them, pointing to the stairs with one hand.

They both hazily nodded to their employer and did their best to climb the steps upstairs. Didn't work out so well as Margaret kept tripping up every other step, while Rigby climbed only a few before nodding off for a few seconds. The robin had to poke at the little man a few times for him to recover. It felt like a dizzying climb up Everest, but in the end, they were able to best it. They both let out a loud drunken yelp as they reached the top stair, feeling accomplished with their action. At least until they got dizzy again, causing Margaret to prop herself against a wall and Rigby to fall down onto the top step. A quick push and he would have gone rolling down the stairs.

The bedroom door swung open as a curious Mordecai stepped out to see who was making the noise. Low and behold, there was his best friend and crush laughing and celebrating drunkenly.

Rigby saw his friend first and released a drunken smirk. "Oh bro! Bro, you missed out on so much!"

"Don't listen to him Mordecai," Margaret said slowly, "you didn't miss anything."

"He missed EVERYTHING!"

"No no," she continued to argue, "it was all boring. Just some drinks and dancing and…"

A smile crept over her face as she stumbled over to Mordecai and wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to keep her balance. The blue jay embraced her in an instant, doing his best to keep her up. If she wasn't drunk he would have thought it to be romantic.

"Are you two okay?" Mordecai asked them, trying to figure out what was going.

"You should totally make out with Rigby," Margaret said right out of left field. It caused the male bird to hesitate for a moment before response.

"Ma-Margaret?" the bird coughed out, "What? Why!"

She let out an intoxicated giggle as her beak slowly moved along the blue jay's cheek. "Cause I've never seen two guys make out before, especially two really cute ones, and especially two guys I REALLY like."

Rigby picked himself up from the floor and began to trot over to the red robin. "So I'm cute now?"

"Oh, you better believe it," she answered, feeling the raccoon claw and climb up her leg and back. He made himself comfortable on her shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her own neck, staring at Mordecai with a happy smile. The image of the three of them almost mirroring one another was a site to behold.

"Oh oh," she continued to Mordecai, "and he's a really good kisser too! Like really good! You should of seen him when he kissed me."

The world around Mordecai froze. Worst fear confirmed. He was right! The reason they went out without him wasn't because of some friendly get together. It was a date! The two of them had been off behind his back having a date. He knew it all along.

"Y-y-y-y-you…," Mordecai sputtered at the raccoon on Margaret's shoulder. "You-kissed-Margaret!"

"Yeah, I did," the raccoon in a high pitched proud voice. And without skipping a beat, the raccoon leaned over the red bird's shoulder and planted a quick peck on the blue jays beak. "Just… like… that!"

"Dude," Mordecai screamed, letting go of Margaret, causing her to plummet to the ground with the raccoon in tow. "DUDE!"

A quick wave of regret filled Mordecai's body as he watched the two of them fall to the ground. He wanted to reach down and pick them both up, but as he reached down to help them, something stopped him. He didn't know what it was, but something within caused him to stop halfway there. He watched the two, trying to size them up at that moment.

Who were these people? These weren't people he knew. This wasn't the girl he had a crush on for such a long time. This was just some random woman, trying to get her kicks and jollies, laughing at things that are hurtful and painful for him to see. And this raccoon wasn't his best friend either. He was a usurper, trying to steal everything away from the blue jay's grasp. Why would a friend do such a thing?

But this was his mind over reacting. These were still the same people he knew and loved. He was just thinking too far into it. They weren't on a date. They were just drunk. That sounds like the best explanation for it. But then why did they kiss? Why did they act like old lovers?

Margaret saw the look on his face. A mixture of confusion, anger, jealousy, and fear washed over it. Did they go too far? Not at all, she thought. He just wasn't used to seeing them like this with her inhibitions and her restraint letting go, or Rigby's personality flourishing more than usual.

The red bird rushed up at the blue jay and knocked him onto his back, falling back into the bedroom he had come out of. As the pain in his back began to blossom, he could feel Margaret's beak and tongue lash out at him. She kissed him repeatedly, trailing his neck and cheek, not allowing the blue youth to have a word in edge wise. She murmured something dirty into his ears as one of her wings began to glaze over his chest playfully.

He liked it, he really did. And he would lie if he said he didn't want more. That feeling of her tongue flicking against his feathers, her wings passionately but gently digging into flesh along his chest and the side of his abdomen, and little moans she allowed to escape her throat all caused little bolts of pleasure to course through his body… it was like heaven. But that gut feeling inside of him was attacking his conscious full force. Something told him he knew better. If he didn't stop now, he would never be able to.

But he didn't need to stop. She did it for him. The kisses and groping stopped suddenly as she raised herself up from him, her legs straddled around his hips. There was a look on her face as she begun to grind her jeans into his hips: pure lust.

"D…dude," was all Mordecai could muster out, wishing he had some sort of cute name for her.

"It was like that," she said with a seductive grin on her face, "only… not as exciting."

One of her wings fingers dug more into the feathers at his chest, while her other wing began to slide a flinger down from his chest to his abdomen and even lower then, stopping at the point where their hips met.

"Hey," Rigby interrupted as he crawled into the room and closed the door, "I thought it was pretty exciting."

"Did you wanna show Mordecai how exciting it was?" she said to the raccoon without turning to meet his gaze.

Mordecai's breathing picked up in shear panic. He didn't know what was going on, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to stick around for it. That inner voice was screaming at him now, nearly deafening the noise of the outside world. But he stayed. He wanted to see what was happening, his curiosity getting the best of him. Or maybe it was that lust inside of him that was over powering.

"Maybe," Rigby answered Margaret as he crawled past her and allowed himself next to Mordecai. The blue jay turned his face to the side, giving him eyes on level with his friends. Their nose and beak were touching.

"Dude?' Mordecai coughed out.

It didn't stop the raccoon though, how he slowly brought himself over to the blue jay and pressed his lips against the mouth of the bird. Unlike his kiss from earlier with Margaret, this one was more subdued and relaxed. Not truly lust filled, but more with a sense of romance in it. The raccoon refused to use his tongue, but opted for slow kisses, allowing his mouth to open for breath and a subtle twist of passion. When he pulled away from his friend, a strong smirk formed as he let out a content sigh.

"That wasn't it at all," Margaret complained, "but I can't say I won't argue with the outcome."

Rigby raised his hand and waved away her comment. He was too busy staring into the blue jays eyes with his own drunken ones. They were relaxing, and calm, even if they were filled with fear. Something about those eyes, he could stare at all day.

Mordecai, on the other hand, did not share the same sentiment. His body was stricken with fear and the only thing that remained on his mind was escape. He couldn't handle this. Not after that. These people were strangers. He didn't know either of them. But he did know them. And that kiss he just got. It was… romantic. Like true to the sense of the word, and he could feel that resonating out of his little raccoon friend. It was an intoxicating feeling.

His brain began to fill with new thoughts. Thoughts to let himself go, and allow everything that was building inside him out to play. He found himself caught in the middle of two people. Two people he truly cared about especially. And these thoughts... to ravage them? Was he seriously thinking such things. To hear the noises they would make, or the way their bodies would contort, or maybe even how his own would. It excited him. It excited him more than anything else he could have thought of in recent history.

The feeling. It was warming and electrifying. He could already feel himself bubble up, his body feeling already prepared for what was about to come. He wanted to let out a deep moan, or allow his wings to touch fur and red feathers, or to fall back into a raccoon's kiss, or to playfully thrust against a red robin's jeans. How far would he let this go? How far COULD he let this go? His hands began to shake and shiver with fear and anticipation. Was this a dream? Was this even happening? He was losing control, and was becoming aware of it. And what's worse is that he wanted to lose control... just once. Just to see what it felt like to no longer be himself.

But his mind snapped before he could even do anything to pursue his lust. It told him he didn't want this. He had truly lost control of the situation, and it caused a fear that he had never felt before.

Out of shear instinct of self preservation, he pushed the red robin off him with all his might, causing her to tumble backward and hit her head against the wall with double the force. As he stood up, he looked down at his friend on the ground who had equipped a look of worry toward Margaret. The bird's body placed his leg on the belly of the raccoon and pushed it away from him as hard as he could. The animal slid across the floor before hitting the night stand next to the bed, causing a leg to break and the table to fall. The alarm clock on top slid off in the process and conked Rigby on the head. The raccoon reach up his hand and rubbed the sore spot.

"Bro? Wha?" Rigby tried to get out as he nursed his wound.

Mordecai looked at the damage he caused and suddenly felt sick. This wasn't happening, he told himself. But it was, and he caused it. No, they cause it! His mind was screeching. He needed to get out of there.

He tried to say something, anything, to make them feel better. "Dude, ummm… look, Margaret-uh… I mean…"

Nothing came out right. Nothing was right at all. Everything was upside down and wrong. And the next thing he knew, Mordecai had slammed the bedroom door behind him, as he rushed down the stairs, and on to the couch. Like a child avoiding the boogie man, he pulled the covers over himself in hopes that it would hide him. It had worked… Benson didn't notice him from the other room.

Margaret clawed herself onto the bed a minute later, trying to find the blankets and a pillow. Her mind was spinning suddenly and she had no idea where she was or even who she was for that matter. She looked down at the unhappy raccoon next to the bed and picked him up, bringing him close to her. He continued to rub his head as did this.

Neither of them knew what had just happened, or why they did it. But a fear inside them began to sprout. Nothing made sense.

_Cold Days from the Birdhouse – Twilight Sad_

**Author's Notes**

And thus ends The Cold Trilogy. This was the longest chapter at over 9000 words. Wow! But God, I loved writing these chapters so much! I got to really let loose on the characters and just do whatever. I know that the M rated scene here was more of a tease than anything, but I'm not gonna write it all away. You all just have to be patient if you want the full pay off. Wow, that sounded really dirty, didn't it? The next chapter will mark the half way point of our story. Yep! As for the writing side of things, I'm actually almost done with the whole of the complete story. Probably another three or four weeks of writing. Hurray~! Though I am worried about the second half of the main arc since it goes into some bizarre territory. And for all of you Benson fans, he's going to be getting more spotlight in the future chapters. Hope you all enjoyed everything up to this point!

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	15. Black Pear Tree

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Black Pear Tree**

Margaret's eyes lazily pried opened to the visage of the bedroom ceiling above her. The first thing that caught her attention was that terrible light coming in through the window that blinded her sight completely. She grabbed the covers and wasted no time hoisting them over her head. A low groan released from her throat as the events of the previous night slowly came back to her in fragments. How drunk did they get? That's what she kept asking herself at that moment. Her head was pounding, her mouth tasted like sweat and dirt, and her body was in an agonizing atrophy.

A little bundle shifted around against her chest uneasily. Rigby let out an annoyed groan as well as he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. No matter how much he rubbed though, it just wouldn't let up. He wanted to go back into slumber, but his senses had heightened to unimaginably unbearable degree. Every sound around him was relevant and made the most awful noises the world had ever heard. The raccoon groaned again before letting out a soft "shut up". He remembered why he never gets piss drunk often. Sure he got drunk every now and then, but not so badly as the previous night.

Margaret knew he wasn't talking to her. It was that blasted sun, and all that terrible creaking and banging around the house. Nobody should be running around the house at this hour. In truth they weren't running, but pacing actually. What time was it? Two in the PM, though it felt like the AM. Neither of them had even heard the alarm clock that morning. Did they even set the alarm clock? Did that even matter? They didn't care. Sleep and rest was all they cared about.

"Go back to sleep," Margaret murmured to Rigby. "It won't be so bad when-"

Their eyes both shot open in unison as the full events of the previous night become apparent to them. The bed creaked audibly as that sat up just as fast.

"Last night," Margaret said.

"I kissed Mordecai," Rigby exclaimed.

"Oh, god! I tried to seduce him… with you in the same room."

"I remember that!"

They both quickly exchanged glances of disgust at one another before jumping out of the bed and rushing out of the room, both still smelling of the previous nights booze. Rigby fell onto all fours and dashed down the stairs with Margaret behind him. They both jumped over to the couch in hopes of catching Mordecai.

"Mordecai," they both screamed.

"WhatIdidtoyoulastnightitdidn''!"

"Look Mordecai, about last night. I'm sorry, I was… I mean I was trying to do something to Rigby. Wait! I mean I was just trying to have a good time with Rigby. No, that's not right either!"

"He's not here," screamed a voice from the kitchen.

Sure enough, on closer examination of the couch, it was vacant. The blankets and pillow were still there, thrown about and ruffled.

Skips exited the kitchen and approached the two, a look of annoyance over his face. "He went to go get some headache medicine for Benson. He's been up for hours. Unlike you two…"

"What store!" Rigby yelled completely ignoring Skips' slight anger with the duo.

"We need to talk to him right now," Margaret added.

Skips shrugged, honestly not knowing where the blue jay had run off to. "We gave him some money and just told him to go get some stuff. Where ever he went that's up to him."

The yeti then turned around and marched back into the kitchen. Unsatisfied with the answer they were given, the bird and raccoon combo followed him in.

The first thing they saw as they walked into the kitchen was Benson, slumped over the table, breathing slowly and looking like he was in great pain. It looked as though he hadn't moved from his chair the whole night. His eyes were just barely open, trying to close into sleep, but keeping alert as a shockwave of ache filled his head. Pops stood over him with a concerned look, ready to help in any way possible.

Benson cursed under his breath as he grabbed his head in pain again. "He's probably… ugh… probably at the drug store across the street. I told him to be quick. Ugh, my head."

Pops put a hand on the gumball machine's shoulder and the other on his back, patting it gently. "Now is not the time for words, Benson."

"Is he going to be alright?" Margaret whispered to Skips. He shrugged to her and approached the table where he sat down in a chair next to Benson. The robin looked at the gumball machine again and then down to Rigby. He wasn't there. She glanced around the room to see where her friend had gone. The back door swung open and closed in a heart beat. No one saw who had rushed out in such a hurry, but it was obvious who it was.

The red bird rolled her eyes knowing that Rigby didn't care about anything other than himself and Mordecai. She passed Benson, rubbing his back for a few seconds before exiting through the back door in pursuit of Rigby.

Skips watched the two of them flee. "What's their problem?"

"Who gives a shit?" Benson groaned audibly. Skips went wide eyed for a moment before looking up at Pops. The naïve man was in utter shock by the use of words that had come out of his worker's mouth.

* * *

Why did so many different types of headache medication have to exist? There was medication for aches and pains, including headaches, medicine for headaches induced by cramps and bloating, medicine for headaches cause by menstruation, headache medicine for the morning after, headache medicine for the evening, it was all too much. Why couldn't they just make one do it all medicine for headaches? Why did it have to be so difficult?

Mordecai grunted under his breath as he read the descriptions on the pill bottles. He carried one in each hand, comparing and contrasting the differences and similarities. They both seemed to do the same thing, but why was one more expensive then the other. And then there were all the competitive brands too. What set them apart from each other? And Skips only gave Mordecai a few dollars (and a couple of lollipops from Pops), so he wasn't sure if Benson wanted the expensive brand or the cheap knock off.

"This is so not fair," he said to himself. Which one was the better one? The one in the red bottle, or the one in the brown bottle? Could he have both? That seemed like a plausible enough answer. He had enough for both, so it could work out. That would probably be the easiest solution too. But wait, wasn't that too much of a good thing? Isn't too much medicine bad for you? So then which one did he need more? The red bottle, or the brown bottle?

He slammed both bottles back on the shelf, annoyed with the bottles, the drug store, Benson, himself, and the world. The longer he stood there and debated it, the better the chances he was going to need that medicine more than Benson.

His mind hurt so much. Mordecai didn't sleep well that night, or any for that matter. He thought about what had happened the last night and did his best to rationalize it. The only thing he could come up with was that both of them were piss drunk and had no idea what they were doing. It seemed reasonable enough, though that didn't stop it from leaving a mark on his mind.

The girl he had been crushing over for the longest of times had tried to seduce him, not caring about his feelings it seemed like. She had treated him like some sort of play thing. And his best friend for an even longer of times kissed him, he actually kissed him, which only led Mordecai to question the raccoon's motives.

"Stop it," the blue jay told him self, "you're thinking too far into it. They were drunk. They didn't know what they were doing."

That was the case, wasn't it? Margaret's always been sort of flirty, and Rigby's always been clingy, so it's obvious that those traits would be amplified when liquor was involved. Still, Mordecai couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he had let it go on instead of running away.

He didn't want to admit it, but he liked it, as he fell into that strange feeling of being used and needed at the same time. It was a new experience for him. He's used to one or the other, but never both at the same time; her cold seduction and his warm kiss. Mordecai let a slightly excited gasp escape his beak as he thought about the what ifs. The what ifs of what could have happened, or how it would have happened, the how being his favorite parts. How would they move in the process? How would they talk? How would it sound? He blushed suddenly when he realized he was beginning to turn himself on in the middle of a drug store.

But it was wrong, and he knew it, about everything. So he opted for a green bottle instead. The cost was a little less than both and had fewer pills in it, but he could live with fewer. The bird let out a discontented sigh as he began to open the bottle to take a pill for him self. But he stopped and left the bottle tightly closed, with all its innards silently waiting.

He scratched the back of his neck and turned to walk away from the medicine toward the check out at the front of the store. When he looked down the end of the aisle he saw both of them, out of breath and looking hung over. He didn't know what to say or do.

"Mor… Mordecai," Rigby panted. "We need to talk."

Margaret nodded in agreement, holding a wing to her chest to measure her heart beat. "About last night," she said slowly.

Of course they wanted to talk about last night, Mordecai thought. But just because they wanted to talk about it didn't mean he wanted to.

"What's to talk about?" he said uncaring. "You two got drunk and did some stuff."

"We wanted to apologize," Margaret said as she slowly approached him.

"Why?" he asked her. "It just happened. It's not a big deal."

"Dude, it's a big deal, a VERY BIG DEAL," the raccoon screamed out. Half the store could hear him.

"Lower your voice, man," Mordecai scolded. "And I don't care. Whatever happened happened. I don't want to talk about it."

"Well we do," the robin pleaded to him, standing a foot or so way from him. "I didn't mean to play with your emotions or anything like that. I just…"

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

Mordecai only just then noticed how physically exhausted they were. "Did you guys run all the way here? In this weather?"

The temperature outside was below freezing. Weathermen expected the snow to start back up at anytime outside.

They both nodded.

The blue jay sighed and motioned them to follow. "I'll give you guys a ride back to the house. Skips loaned me the golf cart."

He then passed Margaret and Rigby, with his head down, clutching a green bottle of medicine tightly. As he passed them, both Margaret and Rigby felt a chill colder than the weather outside.

* * *

"Something's going on," Benson moaned as he tried to raise his head from off the table top. He failed and dropped it back down to rest.

He hated being stuck there with nothing to do. More so, he hated that the entire staff was making sure he was alright instead of doing their jobs. One employee gets sick and the entire park operations had nearly come to a complete stop just for him. It made him mad just thinking about it. But what could he do? Still, he admitted it was nice to get the attention from the staff.

Pops continued to rub the gumball machine's back, hoping the soothing motions would relax him and give him some extra strength. It did help. Benson did feel the need for something to ease his aching gears and springs, and the lollipop certainly knew how to pamper him.

Skips had taken to making Benson some tea on the stove top, this time making sure it tasted good and would help him to hopefully feel better. While it didn't help him in anyway, it did taste nice, so it was a start. He even got a half smile from the yeti, which was gift enough seeing as the yeti rarely smiled for anything.

What shocked Benson was that Muscle Man and High Five Ghost actually stopped by to ask what their chores were. When they were sent away for the day, they actually told Benson to get better: no off hand joke, no snide comment, just some actual sympathy.

A sudden urge of panic erupted from within the gumball machine as he sat up and looked around the kitchen. Both Pops and Skips jumped slightly at his sudden burst of adrenaline. They followed his motions and looked around the room with him. Finding nothing, they eyed each other and then the sickly man.

"Benson?" Pops started, "whatever is it you're looking for?"

"Someone," Benson answered in raspy voice, "someone's watching me. I think…"

Skips looked at Pops who was looking at Benson. Something was seriously wrong with the man.

"Like who?" the yeti asked him.

"I don't know," Benson commented, "but every time I feel like someone's watching me it gives me a splitting headache."

The yeti and lollipop man remained there, trying to figure out what was wrong with their friend. Something crossed the yeti's mind that he hadn't considered.

"Did you give any of your gumballs to anyone?" he asked him.

"What? No! I'm not an idiot. I would know if someone had taken one of my gumballs."

"Are you sure?" Pops asked moving his hands from Benson's back up to his shoulders.

The candy machine knew what they were getting at, but it had only happened a few times, and those only lasted a few hours if even that long. It didn't last for nearly a full week.

"It's not MGS. If it was, then I would know where my missing gumballs were. Head hurts too much not to know."

"Maybe we should call a medical professional just to be sure," Pops said with worry on his face.

"I SAID I'M FINE," Benson screamed, causing a large explosion of pain to course through his head. He mumbled something painfully, and began to breathe heavily.

The two men watched as Benson winced and cried out in pain. Voices every where, and they couldn't hear them. Shadows jumping across the room, and they couldn't see them. What did they look like? Two taller figures and a smaller one? He wasn't sure, it wasn't vivid enough.

It hurt too much. He wanted to cry. He felt Pops' arms wrap around his neck, and felt Skips' hand on the top of his head, rubbing it just slightly.

And then there it was again, that sudden sense of déjà vu. He had experienced this scene before, but not yet. That didn't make sense, none of this made sense. That small shadow, was it a child? It was a bird? Was that Mordecai? The color matched his. But this child didn't look any older than five or six. What did it mean?

The sound of something fragile breaking pierced the room as Benson's consciousness went blank.

"BENSON," Skips screamed showing more emotion then he had to anyone in the longest of times. The gumball machine wasn't responding, and on his head was a large, visible, and rapidly spreading crack.

* * *

The ride back to the house was the longest fifteen minutes the three of the passengers had ever had in their life. Mordecai sat in the driver's seat while Rigby and Margaret sat awkwardly in the back. It was too silent. Something needed to break the silence, but none of them wanted to say anything. They were too scared of saying the wrong words. Everything felt impossible.

"Mordecai," Margaret finally said, "you can be honest with me." She looked next to her at Rigby sitting there with his gaze focused on the passing scenery. "You can be honest with us."

Mordecai didn't say anything. All he cared about was getting home and delivering the medicine to Benson. That was all.

"I know that you're still thinking about it," she continued, "and keeping it bottled up is unhealthy. I know you're that kind of person. You'll feel better if you get it all out of system."

Still no response.

"Trust me it works," she added, forcing a smile on her face. "Just ask Rigby and I! We had a long talk about each other a few weeks ago when you and everyone else were trapped in the house cause of the vines. Got it right out of our systems!"

The blue jay slammed down on the brakes, causing the cart to stop harshly, and causing the passengers to whiplash forward.

"So what," he snapped, "you two are all buddy-buddy now? Is that it?"

Margaret felt slightly taken aback from his sudden outburst. "What? Well we're friends if that's what your ask-"

"Do you like me?" the male bird finally coughed out.

And there it was. The question he had been dying to ask this entire time, finally out in the open. It seemed simple enough right then, but it was actually difficult for the avian to ask. His wings gripped down on the steering wheel of the cart, tightening his hold on them a little more with each passing second.

"Like how?" Margaret asked him. "Like as a friend, or a brother, or a co-worker, or-"

"Damn it Margaret, you know what I mean!"

Her body trembled in fear for a split second from the raise in his voice. Of course she knew what he meant. She was avoiding the answer to that question as much as she possibly could. She had been tackling that question for the past few days. Last night didn't make it any better, and now he has to go and ask it on a day in which all three of them are mentally unwell.

"Well," she started softly, "You're my friend, and um…"

"I… I like you Mordecai," Rigby blurted out loud.

Margaret's heart jumped. Her vision focused on Rigby, who was now leaning forward over the seat and staring at the blue jay. She couldn't believe it. Did he really just admit his feelings to Mordecai?

"Well I know YOU like me," Mordecai responded with a small friendly grin, "you're my best friend. Of course YOU like me. We're bros!"

Margaret's eyes remained set on Rigby. The raccoon looked away from his tall friend and down at the seat he was hunched over. Who knows how much courage in Rigby's little body it took to actually tell that to his best friend, and in the end, Mordecai didn't get it. He just thought it was some silly admittance of friendship. Margaret thought it almost pathetic to watch.

"Yeah," Rigby said defeated. "Yeah…"

"I wanna like you," the robin spit out, sick of this little game they all had been skirting around for months.

Mordecai turned around to look at her. "'Want' to like me?"

"I wanna like you because you actually make me feel like I'm needed; that you actually want me for something other than my body. You actually listen to me. I don't date a lot of men who are like that."

A sad nostalgic smile appeared on her face and disappeared an instant later.

"Then why don't you like me?" he asked her. His eyes grew wide and wanting.

"Because it's just how I said it. You make me feel all those things, but… you make me the center of the world. You ignore everything else around you when I'm in the room, hell, probably when I'm not even in the room. I don't-"

She looks at Rigby for a moment. He hasn't moved. His head is still low and sad, feeling let down by the world.

"I hurt you, Mordecai, and I don't want to hurt you. You don't think I'm hurting you, but I am. Even more so, I'm hurting Rigby. I didn't even know I was doing it either until just recently. You know you and I don't have a lot in common either. Sure we have the same sense of humor, and we're both birds, but that's about it."

Her wings were pressed into the cushions of the seats.

"Margaret," Mordecai started, "you don't have a clue how long I've been trying to talk to you about this. You… you never noticed me whenever I tried to get your attention. And now you're telling me it's never gonna happen?"

"I never said that! I just said…" She stopped herself to try and think. "I don't know what I said. I don't even know what I'm saying now. I want to like you, I really do. I want to be happy with you, it's just…"

Her dialogue didn't make any sense, a reoccurring theme these past couple of days. She kept looking around at various points around herself and the cart, only meeting Mordecai's eyes for a second or two before looking away again. The robin would have given anything at that moment to try and do everything over again. Anything to try and either make a relationship with Mordecai work out, or let the bird down softly. Go back to the coffee house and try to make sure everything works out for the better, somehow. But that was wishful thinking. What she says and does now would affect her and her friendships from this point on. She looked at Rigby again, hoping for a sign. Mordecai realized where her attention lied and look at the raccoon as well. His thoughts went to him.

"Because of Rigby?" he asked. "Wha…"

Mordecai looked at Margaret and than back to Rigby. His gaze shifted between the two of them a few times before something erupted inside him. Everything that had happened the past few days rushed into him as he reached over the seat to grab the raccoon with both wings by the fur of his chest and held him up.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "It was her wasn't it? She was the one you were talking about!"

He shook his friend. Rigby didn't respond.

"SAY SOMETHING!"

Still no answer from the raccoon. In a fit of rage and anger, he threw his friend out of the cart and onto the cold dead ground. The sudden reaction from Mordecai caused Rigby to finally react looking up at his friend's angry visage.

_**I dug a hole and filled it up with compost**_

_**Rested on the cool grass for a minute**_

The bird looked down at his enemy, his eyes looked as if they had a green tint about them. "Were you so jealous that you had to steal her away from me, IS THAT IT?"

"Mordecai," Margaret gasped jumping out of the cart, trying to grab his arm. "Stop it!"

"Isn't that it though!" he yelled at the raccoon.

"Stop it, Mordecai," she pleaded, "you know that's not what's going on."

"But it is," he screamed turning to look at the female. The expression on his face terrified Margaret.

"You can tell me," Mordecai said to Margaret in a low begging voice. "You can tell me, I won't be angry. You're in love with him, right? Right?"

_**I saw the future in a dream last**_

_**There's nothing in it**_

Where did this come from, the girl wondered. In love? Why was he asking such a thing? It was trivial, it was childish. She took a deep breath and gave him the only answer she could give.

"I'm not in love with Rigby. We're just friends."

"No no! You don't have to lie to me! You can tell me the truth. See?"

He gave an insane smile pointing to it with his wings. "I'm fine." He looked at Rigby with the same demented grin. "You're in love with her, right? H-How long? How long have you guys been doing this behind my back?"

Rigby didn't say anything. Mordecai was scaring him too much. He had never seen this side of his friend before, and quite honestly, didn't want to. It was like someone had turned the bird's brain switch to off and he was running on pure emotion. Rigby tried to open his mouth and say something, but Mordecai's dementia caused him to stop himself.

He could tell that the blue jay was in pain. It was like that time a few months prior when Mordecai took the shockwave for him. Only then, he was trying to protect Rigby. Now, he's taking in all the pain to protect himself. All the while, the raccoon felt the exact same way he did when that moment happened long ago: helpless.

"He doesn't love me," Margaret interrupted. She sighed, afraid of the words that were about to come out of her mouth. She hoped Rigby would forgive her. "He's in love with you."

The sounds of the cold wind enveloped them as they all went silent. Rigby looked at Margaret and allowed an unimaginable rage wash over him. His teeth gritted together, his hands clenched at the grass beneath him, and any respect that both she and him had worked to gain for each other over the past few months disappeared in that instant. Once again, Rigby found himself hating the woman in front of him.

_**I set the sampling in the hole**_

_**Started gently tapping down the dirt**_

_**I saw the future in a dream last night**_

Margaret sensed the volatile change in Rigby's personality and tried to give him an apologetic stare. She regretted saying it, but knew it had to be done. There was no going back.

"No…" Mordecai quietly murmured, his head slowly turning to see Margaret. "Why would Rigby like me? He… he doesn't like guys. And besides, even if he did, I'm not anything special… It's a joke. You're joking. You two are together."

And just like that, the anger, rage, and sorrow that Rigby embraced only a few seconds earlier was gone. Mordecai just out right denied what she said. The raccoon thought this would make him happy; a second chance to confront himself and Mordecai about the whole thing. But instead, it made him feel empty, made him feel cowardly, made him feel worthless. That last one wasn't something he wanted to feel from his best friend. If he denied it now, what was to stop him from denying it later, or worse, denying Rigby completely?

Margaret watched the expression on Mordecai's face. That twisted false smile unnerved her like nothing else. His eyes were wide and dilated, and it almost seemed like all the color in his eyes had vanished. He wasn't even there. His personality, humor, traits, and everything that made Mordecai who he was, was gone. He was acting like someone else, someone that neither Rigby or Margaret had ever met before. This was too strange, stranger than usual, stranger than anything the three of them had seen, and especially stranger than their normal regular lives. There was something in his eyes: fear. Why was he scared? He shouldn't be.

Sure he was obviously trying to deny that his best friend had a crush on him, and yes, he was none too happy that Margaret only had a half interest in him, but she saw something else. Why was he so afraid to admit all of this was happening? Why was he so pushy when it came to this subject? Rigby had a crush on him, plain and simple, there's nothing to argue about there. Knowing Mordecai's personality he should be shocked, but not having a mental breakdown. The same should apply with Margaret's feelings for him. She expected him to get depressed and angry at her, but not have a total break down. On top of all that, why did he want Rigby and Margaret to be together so much suddenly?

Margaret couldn't piece any of this together. Nothing added up. There was something missing that connected this all together. She thought about everything that had to do with Mordecai recently: Iacedrom, her new found employment, the vines, the "date", his hanging out with Rigby, the thing last night. She even tried to think of things before she came to the park: every time he came to order coffee, all the shy conversations he tried to have with her, all the silly things he and Rigby did when they were together. When they were together…

How long had they known each other? Nearly all their lives…

How long has Rigby liked Mordecai? He may have unknowingly crushed on him forever.

When did Rigby last date? A one night stand with a fox he never really did anything with.

When she and Mordecai are together what happens? Mordecai wants to get as far away from Rigby as possible.

When Rigby admits to Mordecai, what happens? He goes into denial and insinuates that she and Rigby are together.

And then it clicks. All the information and data flow together like puzzle pieces and the conclusion unfolds.

"Oh my god…" Margaret said coming to a realization, "…you've known about Rigby all along."

His eyes shrank and his smile disappeared. She hit the hammer on the nail. He looked at her and then over to Rigby. They're accusing stares watching his every move. He side stepped away from in between them. Something got in the way of his foot and he tripped to the ground. As he looked at them again from the cold wet dirt, his face was filled with utter fear. Above them, the snow began to fall.

"Rigby's supposed to be my best friend and you're supposed to be my girlfriend," he said in a broken voice. "It's supposed to be like that. Not the other way around, not any other way, just that way."

_**Somebody's gonna get hurt, Somebody's gonna get hurt**_

Rigby and Margaret watched whatever was left of him break.

_**I hope it's not me**_

"It's just easier that way," he finished. A moment later, he was on his feet and dashing away from the cart as fast as he could.

_**But I suspect it's going to have to be**_

"Mordecai, wait," Margaret screamed. The sound of an engine roared behind her, and she turned to find Rigby already in the driver's seat, getting ready to drive off after his friend.

"I can fix this," he said in a low voice. "I can fix this!" He said it again and again, getting louder and angrier every time he did. He could push down on the gas pedal at any time and drive toward the bird. But he wasn't. He just sat there looking at the steering wheel, repeatedly saying the same thing.

"Rigby," Margaret started as she reached out her wing to him, "Rigby, stop." Her voice rang with fear and struck nerves.

Rigby felt a wing on his shoulder, knowing exactly who it was. An instinct pierced through him as he let go of the steering wheel and tackled the red robin back to the ground. He raised his fist above himself and slammed it down as hard as he could across her eye.

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT," he shrieked. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

_**I dug my heals in for the winter**_

_**And I waited for the snow**_

Another fist came down on her. She brought her wings up to protect herself, causing a slight sting to form on her hand. She was actually happy at that moment that Rigby wasn't a very strong person. Still, she had no doubt that the first blow was going to leave a black eye.

"GO AWAY," he continued to scream, "I HATE YOU!"

His fists repeatedly poured down onto her sheltered face, one after another in solid succession with furious energy backing him.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"

_**But something was stuck up in the clouds**_

_**Something was stuck up there**_

_**It couldn't let go**_

A minute goes by, and the raccoon finally begins to relent on his onslaught. His fists slow down, and his voice begins to fail him. Finally, he unclenches his fists and allows them to fall limply to his side. Tears begin to pour down his face as everything that has happened finally sinks in.

Margaret moves her wings away from her face, and looks at raccoon. She wants to help him, wants to hug him, wants tell him that it'll work out some how. Instead, she finds herself slowly crawling away from the raccoon out of fear; fear of these two men who have caused her more pain in her life than any other person she's ever known. These men, they were too unstable for her to handle. She felt like her life was actually in danger simply by being around them.

"…I hate you…" Rigby hiccups in between sobs. "…I hate you…"

_**And when it's time came, I could see it happen**_

_**Blossoms black and sweet as Texas crude**_

_**I saw the future flowering like a ruptured vessel**_

Margaret sits up and pulls her knees close to her chest. She watches Rigby sulk for a few minutes, trying to figure out what was going on. What had just happened? What was the argument even about at this point? Was is about Mordecai feeling rejected about Margaret? Was it about Margaret not knowing if she truly had feeling for Mordecai? Was it because of the thing that happened the night before? Was it because Mordecai thought Margaret and Rigby were an item? Was it about Rigby caring about Mordecai? Did Mordecai have feelings for Rigby?

Nothing made sense. Nothing that had happened to any of them the past few days, weeks, maybe even months made any sense. There was no rhyme or reason. There was no clear question, just like there was no clear answer. Everything was just happening because it could happen. No predictability in sight. And then she looked up and saw the pill bottle from the drug store.

Benson.

_**Sombodies gonna get screwed**_

She sighed and picked herself up from the ground, feeling her eye pulsate slightly from pain. She carried herself back over to the cart and placed herself in the driver's seat. Margaret then picked up the pill bottle and playfully shook it in Rigby's direction, hoping that it would do something positive.

The raccoon looked at her and the sound she was making. Realizing that they were still on the clock, he walks over to the cart, climbs inside and sits next to her, wiping the tears away from his eyes in the process. Neither of them make an effort to speak or acknowledge each other after they drive away. Just because they were having a shitty day, Margaret reasoned, didn't mean that everyone else had to have one too.

_**It won't be me**_

When they got back to the house, an ambulance was parked out front.

_**Someday I'm going to walk out of here free**_

_Black Pear Tree – The Mountain Goats and Kaki King_

**Author's Notes**

My apologies to the Benson fans. His story is just beginning, and has a major impact on the end chapters. Other than that, what did you all think? This marks the half way point in the story. I had originally thought about taking a three week hiatus in order to finish up writing, but since I'm about six weeks ahead of schedule (just finished chapter 22), I'll just keep uploading. Yay! Thanks again for everyone who has stuck with me this far! Here's to another couple of months of this thing! *raises champagne glass*

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	16. Happy End

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Happy End**

"MGS?" Margaret said in a questioning tone.

"Missing Gumball Syndrome," the doctor told her as he flipped through Benson's chart.

Everyone watched poor Benson as he lay in his hospital bed with a medical wrap around his head, blocking out the vision of one of his eyes, and an IV drilled into his metallic arm. He had returned from unconsciousness a few moments after they arrived at the hospital, just in time for the IV to be drilled in. He cursed up a storm for a good half hour before finally calming down. Now he was just laying in bed, one hand placed on his throbbing temple, and the other being held by Pops sitting next to him. The older gentlemen kept a tight grip on the gumball machines hand, afraid that if he let go, he might lose him.

Skips leaned against Benson's bed, tapping his fingers impatiently along the metal railing, while repeatedly glancing over at the metal man. "Basically," he started, "it means that if one of Benson's gumballs goes missing for too long or doesn't get eaten, he starts getting headaches."

The doctor nodded to the yeti before turning back to Margaret.

"That's it in a nutshell. It's usually prevalent among younger gumball machines," the doctor added, "but it's also been known to strike adults as well. The syndrome actually happens when the gumball is nearby. It's a kind of a homing beacon for gumball machines to find any loose balls."

"So one of Benson's gumballs is somewhere around here?" Margaret asked, prying over the doctor and at the direction of Benson.

"That's usually the case," he continued, "usually within a thirty foot radius. If it's anything beyond that, then the MGS doesn't really happen and the ball would just need replaced. But I just did a full physical on Benson and all of his gumballs are accounted for. Plus, he comes in every three months for a count anyways."

"So then it's not Benson's balls?" Pops asked the doctor, causing the expert to look questionably at Pops for his choice of wording.

He clicked at his pen and wrote something down on the clipboard in his hand. "No, it's definitely MGS. I can guarantee it. How, I don't know, but I can guarantee you that it is in fact Missing Gumball Syndrome, even if I don't have the proof."

Skips, Pops, and Margaret exchanged glances at one another, not sure if they believed him or not.

"Either that or it's a brain tumor," the doctor added.

Everyone gasped and turned their gaze toward Benson.

"It's not a tumor," Benson argued, "I can't get tumors. I'm a freaking gumball machine!"

"Doesn't mean you can't get a lot of other things," the doctor countered. "I'm going to give you the number of a colleague of mine. He should be able to help you out and give you a prescription to help you with your headaches in the mean time."

The man in white then wrote something else down on his clipboard, tore it off, and handed it off to Skips.

"But until then," he went on, "I want you to stay here a couple of days, maybe longer, so we can get some tests run."

"Are you kidding?" Benson continued to argued, wincing at the pain he just caused his head. "Who's gonna take care of the park?"

"Oh don't worry Benson," Pops comforted, "I'll make sure the park is in splendid, pique condition upon your return from the infirmary."

That didn't put a lot of confidence into the gumball machine. In fact, it made him feel worse. He looked over at Skips and gave him a pleading look. The yeti nodded, not changing his monotone expression, and continued to tap on the guard rail of the bed.

"Don't worry Benson," the doctor said with a smile, "it's mostly just some advanced versions of the tests we did during your physical earlier. Nothing to worry about."

The gumball machine grunted and continued to hold his head tight with his hand.

"Any questions?" the doctor finished.

"Yes, one," Benson said immediately. "Why is Rigby outside of the room sulking like a three year old?"

Margaret sighed and turned her attention toward the doorway. She listened to the raccoon sobbing unhappily, still breathing heavily and letting out a hiccup every now and then. Felt like nails against a chalk board to her. The more she heard it, the more she wanted to run away until she couldn't hear it any more.

"We got into an argument with Mordecai," she answered shyly, "who kind of had a mental breakdown and ran off."

"Where is he?" Benson asked.

"We don't know. He just… ran off."

The machine on the bed began to slowly rub his head, hoping to calm the pain. "Well, that's an easy enough solution. What day is it again?"

"Friday," Skips answered.

"Alright then," Benson said calmly. "If he's not back by Sunday night, he's fired."

"Wait, but-," Margaret tried to argue.

"End of story," the machine bellowed, flinching again from the pain. He rubbed his head again, allowing the sudden silence in the room to sink in. "I've given you idiots enough chances as it is. Skips, give me that piece of paper."

The yeti handed off the doctor's note to the gumball machine without even looking at his co-worker. Benson unfolded the paper and read the name and number.

"A psychiatrist!"

The doctor rolled his eyes before clicking his pen and placing it back into his shirt pocket. "Your short temper and grief about life isn't helping your condition. MGS is technically considered a mental condition too, you know. Plus, he can prescribe things that I can't, so take it and be happy."

Benson's face began to turn bright red again, and began his tirade on the doctor; screaming at him about how he didn't need a therapist and that he would do all right with just medication, claiming that everything would pass in time. Margaret didn't feel like listening to her employer bicker with his doctor, so she exited the room, leaving the group to their own devices, Skips watching her all the while as she walked away from the scene.

The robin walked under the door frame and looked down next to her as Rigby sat against the wall, looking miserable and depressed. Every so often he let out a small sob and a sniffle. He had been going on like this since they got back to the house, and originally he wanted to be left alone, but Skips and Pops insisted he come with them, plus, Margaret was afraid of what he might do to himself if left alone for too long. She didn't want to think he was that type of person to hurt himself, but she just couldn't take that chance.

She slid down next to him and leaned her back against the wall as well. "Did you hear what Benson said about Mordecai?"

The raccoon nodded slightly.

The bird sighed deeply with his response. "Think we should go find him?"

"I don't care. He can go get hit by a train."

He was angry at Mordecai. Who wouldn't be at that moment? Rigby let out another quick sob, rubbing his eyes to keep himself from crying again. He had had enough of that today.

"Don't say that," Margaret tried to comfort. "We just need to find and tell him-"

"Why don't you ever stop talking?" he yelled at her as he got up from the ground. "STOP TALKING! STOP SMILING! STOP THINKING EVERYTHING'S GONNA WORK OUT!"

"What's going on out there?" the doctor asked as he leaned his head out of the room.

The red robin quickly placed her wing over the raccoon's mouth to try and silence him. He bit down onto her feathers and flesh as hard as he could. His teeth broke the skin of her hand and blood poured into his mouth causing him to release in shock, and start running.

"Rigby," Margaret screamed as she clasped her wing tight with her other hand.

The raccoon dashed across the hallway and into a door leading to a stairwell.

The bird had her mouth agape in confusion. She didn't know what to say or even how to say it. The doctor approached her and took her wing in his hand.

"Crazy little coon, your friend," he said examining her. "Ever had a rabies shot?"

She jerked her wing away from him and frowned. "He's not rabid!"

The man in the white coat nodded and pulled out his pen, clicking it open. "When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?"

* * *

How could he fix it? That was what was running through Rigby's mind as he scurried out of the hospital into the busy five o'clock streets of the city. How could he fix this whole mess? He had to think of everything that had happened within the past couple of weeks, maybe months, maybe even years, and piece them together. Then, he could come up with the best solution and fix everything. He'll make it like it was before: no confusing feelings, no Margaret working there, no sleeping on the couch, just himself and Mordecai and their job. That's what he wanted most of all. He just wanted to get back to normal.

How did it start? It was the speaker; that cursed thing. And then it had something to with Margaret as well. Mordecai was trying to impress her, right? So he wanted to finish building a stage and impress her. Get some lady pecs and an actual date with the female bird. But that didn't work out at all, no. That thing was inside of it, and it hurt Mordecai and sent him to the hospital. But Mordecai took the pain for Rigby. What did that mean? Does that mean Mordecai had feelings for the raccoon? Rigby mentally kicked himself. He was reading too far into it. Then what happened?

Margaret, of all people, ended up being hired on to the park. That shouldn't be right. She'd screw everything up. She did screw everything up! It was the hose, and the fertilizer, and the plants, and all those stupid things that the small furry animal just couldn't stand anymore. Those things nearly killed Rigby and put Mordecai in danger. What if they had lost? What if Rigby had died in all of that? Would he ever been able to tell Mordecai…

Rigby let out a blaring noise as he ran along the side walk. A few people stopped to stare at him, curious as to what was wrong with this raccoon with the bloody mouth.

After that, what happened? Some time past, some stuff happened. None of that had any real relevance to the plot Rigby was trying to glue together. And there was that thing that happened at the coffee shop with that one guy. Rigby couldn't remember his name. And then they all did their respected "dates" if that's what you wanted to call them. Would that have been the best time?

Rigby didn't want to think that way though. If he wanted things to go back to the way they were before, he would need to block any feelings for Mordecai out of his mind. All of them. Try to pretend that none of them ever happened. If he could do that, then he was one step closer to fixing everything, which was the one thing he wanted. Wasn't it?

Could things even go back to normal after all of this? Even if Margaret was taken out of the picture, and Rigby and Mordecai became close friends again, what's to stop Rigby from trying to admit it to him again? And for that matter, Mordecai knows about Rigby's feelings, and if Margaret was correct in her assumption, had always known.

He didn't want to think about Mordecai anymore. He didn't want to think about the past anymore. He didn't want to think anymore, period.

A quick trip of his foot and he fell face first onto the ground. The blow to his face was soft, but firm. He looked around himself. He was definitely in the park. How long it had taken for him to run there and how he even got there was a mystery to him. His mind was too jumbled with this and that to even care. He breathed heavily onto the ground, not quite sure if he wanted to finish his sprint back to the house.

Why did he want to go back to the house, he wondered. What was honestly there that would make him feel better?

"Mordecai," he whispered to himself as he picked himself back up and started up again.

Mordecai had to be there now. They had been gone a couple of hours and the house was empty the whole time. Seeing no one there, Mordecai had to have come back at some point while they were gone, right? He kept telling himself that as he galloped across the green grass and eventually into the back door of the house.

"Mordecai," he screamed as loud as he could. He knows he's in here, he has to be in here. The back door was unlocked. Benson always makes sure that all the doors are locked if everyone was out of the house. And Mordecai was the only one of the trio with a key to the front and back door (Benson didn't trust Rigby with a key, and Margaret had barely been working there), so he had to be here.

The raccoon jumped from room to room, screaming out his best friends name, praying that he would find him somewhere in there. He wanted to see Mordecai with a smile on his face, like nothing had happened. He wished and prayed for that.

No such luck on the ground floor though. He had to be upstairs then. The bedroom, of course! Maybe he was taking a nap, or was trying to think about things there. The raccoon tore across the steps onto the second floor. A delusional smile appeared on his face as he opened the door to the bedroom.

"Mordecai, lookI'msorryabouteverything!"

But the room was empty. Rigby looked around left and right, up and down. He wasn't under the sheets of the bed, nor was he under the bed itself. He wasn't on the ceiling, nor was he anywhere on the floor. He wasn't behind the dresser… and then he saw it. The dresser drawers were opened, like someone had been going through them in a hurry. All of Mordecai's clothes that he actually wore were gone. The raccoon searched through the rest of the clothes, hoping to find something, but found nothing. He clamored over to a dirty clothes basket in the corner of the room, and couldn't find a single shred of the bird's existence there. He ran back over to the drawer to double check. His eyes caught something shimmering in the sun light coming in through the window on top of the drawer.

There was the key that Mordecai had used to get inside to get his belongings. It awaited a new owner.

* * *

Margaret threw herself through the back door, calling out the raccoon's name as she ran inside. She was out of breath, and hadn't stopped once to take a breather in the amount of time she ran. Her wing still hurt from his bite and was now covered up with a wrap. She didn't focus on that though, worrying about the raccoon instead. The girl walked into the living room, as she began to check around the house for her co-worker. She didn't need to go very far. Rigby was sitting on the couch, looking at the key Mordecai had left behind on the table.

"Rigby," Margaret panted as she tried to take a long breath, "don't… don't do that again, okay? You worried everyone."

"Really?" Rigby asked with vitriol. "Did any of them really care?"

Margaret lied to make him feel better, and the raccoon saw right through it. She looked away from him, refusing to acknowledge her mistake.

"Well," she started with a sad look on her face, "you still shouldn't do that."

"Why shouldn't I?" the male questions. "Nobody cares either way."

The bird sat herself down on the couch next to Rigby, still trying to cool down from her sprint. "That's not true, Mordecai and I-"

"Mordecai doesn't care!"

"Yes he does! So do I!"

"If Mordecai cared so much he wouldn't have taken everything and left!"

Margaret flinched. "Wait, what? What do you mean?"

"Go look for yourself," Rigby moaned. "All of his stuff is gone. He left his house key too."

Margaret stood up from the couch and dashed upstairs. Rigby sat there by himself for a few minutes before the red robin slowly walked back down the stairs.

"He must have come while we were gone," she said unbelievably. "I don't… I don't get it."

"What's to get! He's gone! He's not coming back!"

Margaret sat back down on the couch trying to take it all in. Could this day really get any worse?

"I guess we screwed up, didn't we?" the bird sighed.

"You screwed up! You were the one-"

Margaret had had enough of this whining and bellyaching. Something inside her clicked, like turning on a light. A violent emotion caused from a combination of self guilt and anger, spewing it out to the closest person by her.

"Shut up Rigby," she screamed at him. "Whether you want to admit it or not, he's gone because we both screwed up! You couldn't handle telling him about your feelings for him, and I played around with his emotions too much!"

"Which is worse, ya know…"

"Excuse me?" Margaret asked him as she gritted her teeth.

"You heard me," the raccoon exclaimed. "What you did was worse."

"And you being in love with him didn't send him over the edge!"

Rigby stood up on the couch, pointing at her with fire in his eyes. "You want me to say it, you stupid B! Alright! Yes, I was in love with my best friend! I've loved him since who knows when, and all I ever wanted was to have a freakin' happy ending with him! And do you know why I didn't tell him!"

Margaret crossed her arms angrily and waited for a response.

"Because of YOU!"

The bird blinked, wondering where this was going and how this was going to be her fault.

"You just had to come along, didn't you?" Rigby continued. "You took his heart and you didn't even know you had it! I saw what you did to him and how you played with him, and I let you do all of that cause it made him happy, even if I didn't like it!"

"And I should honestly believe that?" Margaret asked, batting away his pointing finger.

"YES! I'm his friend first! Do you really think I wanted to lose that? But nooooooo, you don't care at all. You just go around playing with his feelings whenever you want!"

She wasn't going to deny that. In fact, she admitted it a minute ago.

"Oh look at me," the raccoon went on in a mocking tone, "my name in Margaret and I don't know if I wanna date Mordecai or just plain F him cause that's the only way I know how to get a man to like me."

Her lid popped. That was it.

"You don't know me," she shrieked, "you don't know anything about me. All you ever did was sit next to him in the coffee shop feeling jealous that all of his attention went to me. No attention for Rigby, cause god forbid that Mordecai care about something else than some sad little raccoon."

"At least I paid attention to him," Rigby argued, "instead of this one girl I know who was completely oblivious to his feelings until I had to tell her."

"Well I had to tell Mordecai about your feelings for him," she said with spite, "so I guess that makes us even. And besides, you and I both know he doesn't care about you at all."

"TAKE THAT BACK!"

"No," she said coldly, "if he cared about you he wouldn't have gone off running."

"STOP TALKING!"

"Why?" she continued, "if I don't, what are you going to do about it? Are you gonna give me another one of these?"

The robin pointed to her eye that had grown swollen and black from earlier.

"Or this?" she said as she pointed to her bandaged wing. "Is that how you take out your frustrations, Rigby? You beat up ladies?"

"When did you become a lady?" Rigby asked with a grin appearing on his face.

His smile was short lived. He didn't notice her hand coming open palmed at his face until it was too late. She smacked him as hard as she could. Rigby did a quick spin, his mind not recognizing what had happened just yet.

Margaret rubbed the aching palm of her wing before sighing to herself. "Oh what the hell…" She then reached back, curled her fingers, and slammed her fist into the raccoon's nose, causing his to go flying off the couch and slam into the front door.

The raccoon began to sob again on the floor, curled up into a ball, not wanting to be seen by anyone. A small bit of remorse shined inside Margaret, but her anger overpowered it and looking at the raccoon made her feel disgusted.

She shook her head and took in another deep breath. "I can't do this anymore," she told him. "I can't handle this. You, Mordecai, the staff, the park, everything! I CAN'T HANDLE THIS!"

She stepped up from the couch and looked away from the raccoon. "When Benson gets out of the hospital I'm quitting. I'm staying to help out, but only cause I like Benson. He deserves better workers than us."

"Nooo…," Rigby moaned, "don't go… don't go…"

Margaret listened and started her way up the stairs to her bedroom. "You say terrible things to me, you treat me like garbage, and now you want me to stay?"

She began her walk up the stairs. "Grow up, Rigby."

Margaret slammed the bedroom door behind her, leaving the raccoon to whine quietly on the floor downstairs. Back in the bedroom, Margaret began to cry.

* * *

The Next Day

* * *

There was something about the room that Benson didn't like. Maybe it was the sterile feel of it, or that too clean smell that filled his lungs. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because he had been woken up at 7am to go have a talk with the psychiatrist the doctor had recommended. Not to mention he still was half blind with a wrap around his head, and had an IV pipe drilled into him. He was much more content to sleep, of course. He had only been admitted yesterday, so he wasn't expecting to meet with the shrink so quickly. At least the chair he was reclining in was comfy.

"You know Benson," the psychiatrist said, "you don't have to answer any of my questions. You can do whatever you like. But you have to do something for the next hour you're in here."

Benson grimaced at the man in the chair across from himself and did his best to ignore him.

"So I'll ask you again," the psychiatrist began, "would you like a glass of water?"

The gumball machine never like therapists of any sort, not since he had to go to a court ordered anger management after he and his girlfriend broke up many years ago. That was actually the first time he had been that angry before. He cursed Veronica's name before looking over at the psychiatrist's documents and diplomas hanging on the wall.

"The longer you sit there, the harder it's going to be for the both of us," he continued. "Now we don't know what it is that's going on with you. We know you're experiencing symptoms of Missing Gumball Syndrome, but you still have all of your gumballs intact. Now…"

The man took a sip of coffee from a green mug on his desk. "…the longer you keep this wall up, the harder it's going to be for any of us to help. You don't want to be in this hospital for the next month, do you?"

No answer from Benson.

"Of course not," the therapist added. "But I need something to point us in the right direction. Anything. What's your home life like? What's your job like? Love life? Stress levels? Anger levels? Anything that I can use to help me, instead of just sitting there and acting like a stubborn ass."

Benson sighed. He knew he didn't want to be there longer than he had to be and knew that unless he at least gave this man some bare bones information, he wouldn't be going home for a while.

"I'll take some water," the gumball machine said.

The man nodded to him and walked over to a counter in the background filled with various juices, liquors, and other drinks. "Did you want ice in that?"

Benson eyed the man, who glared at him back with a smile. "Great," Benson thought, "he's testing me."

* * *

Skips could not believe how absolutely quiet it was in the house. Usually when he visited, the yeti found the place bustling with the voices of his co-workers, usually Mordecai and Rigby, but today… today seemed different. Rigby wasn't saying a single word to anyone, actually getting his chores done correctly, and not stuffing himself at dinner. Margaret had been keeping to herself all day, only coming out of the bedroom to do chores, or get food, which she also took to her room.

While this didn't affect Skips all that much, it did worry Pops. The lollipop man found himself trying to have conversations with the raccoon and robin, but neither wished to speak to him and kept only to them selves.

"Skips," Pops commented, "this is turning into a horrendous tragedy: Rigby isn't playing, Margaret isn't being romantic, and Mordecai has spirited himself away to somewhere we don't know!"

The yeti didn't mind the peace and quiet for a change. It was a welcome addition, in fact. However, he knew that there was something wrong in the land of the park. He could sense Rigby's depression, Margaret's anger, and had no doubt that Mordecai was somewhere feeling scared and confused. Not to mention that if Mordecai hadn't returned to the park before the end of the next day, he was going to be canned. And with Mordecai gone, Rigby would no doubt lose any ability to work and probably end up leaving as well. Skips wasn't sure about Margaret's plans though, but thought only of the worse case scenario since that's what deemed appropriate at the time.

"Something's going on," Skips told the naïve man. "I don't think it's ever been this depressing around here."

"Well," Pops said trying to think, "there was that one time with Muscle Man's mother and…"

"We don't talk about that, remember?"

"Oh… right."

Both Skips and Pops sat on the couch in the living room trying to find a good way to pass the time. Their work day had ended early when the dark snow filled clouds came in at long last and decided to unleash fury upon them. It was too dangerous for any of them to be outside for an extended period of time. They were already missing two workers; they didn't need to lose anymore.

The yeti sighed and got up to have a look out the living room window. The snow was beginning to come down hard again, only now, it was actually sticking to the ground and causing issues with the park. To add insult to injury, the snow shovel that he and Benson had bought several days ago had gotten dinged up and broken in a few places by Muscle Man and High Five Ghost playing around with it. He pondered how completely unaware he was about how much trouble Benson had to go through on a daily basis. When the snow eventually lets up, someone's going to have to shovel all of it up, and a broken snow shovel wasn't going to get them anywhere.

Whether he liked it or not, somebody had to go out there and get a new shovel. He would have gone himself, but he refused to leave the house in the condition it was in. Muscle Man and High Five Ghost were stuck in the house, unable to go home cause of the weather, while Margaret and Rigby still acted like children toward one another in their moods. Not to mention Pops was barely aware of what was going on and found the snow to be a, "rip-roaring good time."

"Margaret! Rigby," Skips called out, making up his mind, "Get down here!"

Margaret appeared in the bedroom door way and began her trek down the stairs, as Rigby appeared from out of Pops' room and remained still at the top step.

"What is it?" she said exhausted.

"We got an issue," he started. "The snow shovel that we bought is all dinged up now. I need the two of you to go back to Walls-to-Walls and exchange it for a new one."

The yeti then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a receipt with the transaction on it.

Margaret snatched the receipt from him and studied it carefully. She glanced up the stairs at Rigby and back at Skips for confirmation. "Do you really need us both for this?" she asked him.

"Have you ever been to Walls-to-Walls?" Rigby questioned her in a cold voice. "It's got a lot of cool stuff, but it sucks. They'd tear you apart."

He stepped down a few steps before stopping on a middle one to sit down. "Mordecai and I went there a few times. Those people are crazy."

"I think I can handle it if you can," she answered, not turning to meet Rigby's gaze.

Rigby chuckled to himself before standing back up. "Good luck," he said with malice in his voice.

Margaret could sense the hate oozing out of the vermin's mouth and finally turned around to look at him. "I should be fine," she commented, "I don't need Mordecai to protect from all the 'scary shoppers'."

Her own venomous smile formed on her face as the two of them glared at each other.

Skips rolled his eyes. He wasn't in the mood to play referee among the two of them. He decided to stop it before it even happened, or at least before it could happen in the house.

"You both can go," he said sternly.

Both Rigby and Margaret turned to him with disapproving eyes, which were met back with a pair of dead pupils. Rigby knew that expression all too well and knew he couldn't win.

"I'll go get my stuff," he said defeated without even trying.

Margaret, however, continued to stare him down, believing her "ladies glare" would do the trick. It seemed to work on all men in general with a few exceptions. And it appeared that Skips was one of those exceptions as no matter how she did it, he didn't budge. She approached him, hoping the loss of distance between them would do some damage, but still did nothing.

"If you get any closer," the yeti said, "I'm going head butt you."

That was Margaret's cue to let up on him and surrender.

"Do I really have to go with Rigby?" she complained. "Can't I just do this by myself?"

"He's been there," Skips said as he began to walk past her, "he can help you."

Margaret sincerely doubted that, but had no choice but to go along with it. Skips was her boss now and no matter what the terrifying man asked her to do, she would have no choice but to follow along.

"And you want us to walk all the way there in that?" she added pointing to the outside. The snow was pouring down with no end in sight.

"I got that taken care of," Skips said as he walked into the kitchen. "Just go get ready."

The robin moaned at the predicament she was in, and began back upstairs to change her clothes.

* * *

Rigby came down first wearing nothing but his usual winter scarf and cap. He looked around the living room for Skips and found the large creature tinkering around in the kitchen. Rigby followed him into the room and found the yeti doing something with an umbrella in the middle of the floor. Muscle Man and High Five Ghost sat at the table trying to make sense of what the yeti was doing, but didn't care for the most part.

Skips held the umbrella in his hands as he sat cross legged on the floor, chanting some sort of unknown incantation and unconsciously drawing strangle symbols and scribbles all over the skin of the umbrella. He let out an unearthly growl and slammed the umbrella too the ground causing a flash of light and a gust of wind to come into the room. When everything had passed, he was standing up with the now glowing umbrella in hand, looking at Rigby.

"What the H?" Rigby said.

"Here," Skips responded as he shoved the umbrella into the raccoon's arms, "use it outside."

Rigby examined the item in his hand, not sure what Skips did to it. It didn't take him long to figure it out though when he opened the umbrella and a wave of warmth showered over the small animal from the hood.

"That… is… awesome…" Rigby commented as he held the open umbrella over his head.

"You know, its bad luck to open an umbrella in the house," Margaret said as she entered the room in her winter jack and jeans.

Rigby groaned, coiling the umbrella back up. "I know," he said unhappily, "you're here now."

"And your company is any better?"

"Hey," Rigby struck back, "anyone would love to hang out with me!"

"I agree," the robin continued, "except for Mordecai and I."

Muscle Man and High Five Ghost let out a bellow of laughter as they slammed their hands down on the table from the hilarity. Margaret gritted her teeth at them, though they didn't notice.

"I know who else would hang out with you," Muscle Man started. He and the ghost both were keeping in their laughter, waiting for the right time to let loose the punch line. "My M-," but he was cut short when Skips shoved his fist into the green mans mouth to shut him up.

"Get going," the yeti said as he pointed toward the back door, which suddenly flew open and allowed the cold death to pour in.

Thanks to the enchanted umbrella, the walk to Walls-to-Walls was bearable if not awkward. Rigby wanted to hold the umbrella the entire time, but Margaret found that she couldn't bend that far down and walk at the same time, so she snatched it from him and held it herself. Because of this, poor Rigby had to make sure to stay under her at all times, and with the snow piling up higher and higher, he had a difficult enough time just trying to walk being so short. She refused to allow the raccoon to perch on her shoulders like they had done so many times before.

"Let me up," he screamed as he did his best to scurry up the bird's leg. He was shaken off every time he tried to move up.

The robin didn't say anything the whole walk, simply allowing the raccoon to vent his frustrations and annoyances at her. It wasn't the most pleasant experience of her life, but she beared with it, and tried to think of her job. She only had to deal with this for another week or two, or whenever Benson decided to come back, and then she was out of there. Hopefully her old apartment was still vacant, she thought to herself.

The city was a ghost town. Not a single car was on the street, save for the few that had parked on the street beside their place of work. The roads were beginning to ice over and any car that dared cross them moved at least only a few miles per hour. There was nobody out on any of the sidewalks and everything around Rigby and Margaret just seemed cold and lifeless. It matched their moods surprisingly well.

Walls-to-Walls, on the other hand, had a full parking lot, as it always did. The place was open 24/7 and had everything the standard home body could ever want, so it was going to be obvious that the place would be packed. Margaret looked around the parking lot. It was odd to her that there were no people getting in and out of their vehicles. It was almost like these cars had been here for days on end without use. Rigby was also scoping out the lot, but for other reasons that were unknown to Margaret. He left the warmth of the magical umbrella to jump on top of a nearby car and get a better view of the place. A tow truck was out in the distance, hauling away one of the cars. He knew that another one was going to take the empty spot soon, and he hoped that whoever's car it was that it carried only one person in it. Another car caught the side of his glance, and he could of sworn he recognized it. But when a cold wind blew through him, he shrugged it off and ran back under Margaret.

"What were you doing?" Margaret asked him.

"Okay, here's the plan," Rigby said with a slight panic in his voice, ignoring Margaret's question. "The returns department is just right inside the store. We get in there, we get the exchange, and we get out. We don't make eye contact with anyone!"

Margaret stopped in front of the automatic entrance to the store and looked down at Rigby. "Quit exaggerating Rigby. It's just a return. It can't be that difficult."

The door slid open and a strange sense of doom and gloom swarmed over her body.

"Can it?"

Rigby gulped, and they both stepped inside.

_Happy End – Flare_

**Author's Notes**

Chapter Sixteen and Seventeen were both short chapters, so I combined them and got this. I love the song that inspired this chapter. It's so cold and snowy. Anyways... I was only able to give this thing about two proofs before submission, so if you see any mistakes, I apologize. Other than that, this chapter is kind of bleh to me, but the next few chapters I adored writing. Hope you all enjoy them. And for those of you wanting a progress update, thanks to the blizzard we got over the past week, I've done nothing but write after being snowed in, so I am up to chapter 25 at this point. Almost done with writing this thing...

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	17. Losing Touch

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Losing Touch**

_You feel that you work well with others._

_-Strongly Agree_

_-Agree_

_-Disagree_

_-Strongly Disagree_

_You feel better working as a team than by yourself._

_-Strongly Agree_

_-Agree_

_-Disagree_

_-Strongly Disagree_

_You feel you can accomplish more by yourself than with others._

_-Strongly Agree_

_-Agree_

_-Disagree_

_-Strongly Disagree_

Mordecai sniffled as he rubbed the tip of his wing across the nostril on his beak. He could feel the cold coming in through the cracks under the door, creeping across the floor and blowing up to him as he sat staring vacantly at the computer screen.

"Why were these questions so difficult to answer?" Mordecai thought as he continued to stare blankly at the flashing lights in front of him. It wasn't like he hadn't filled these stupid questionnaires out before. You just put strongly agree or strongly disagree as the answer to every question and it guarantees you an instant interview for employment. But these questions just seemed harder than usual today, and he had answered them so many times before.

He cracked a smile as his mind drifted backwards. He remembered the times when he and Rigby were applying for jobs together, and while Mordecai knew exactly how to get the interview and pass the test, Rigby would always press random answers in hope of getting an interview. And in the rare times in which it actually paid off and he got to meet the employer, he would screw up and not get the job. Moments like that pissed Mordecai off, seeing that he wanted to work with his best friend. Thinking about the past though, actually made him chuckle a little bit.

Mordecai sighed and knew why the questions were so damn difficult to answer. His mind kept going back to that moment the previous day. The looks that both Rigby and Margaret had on their faces were cemented into his mind. And when he ran, nothing but what ifs paraded around his psyche, begging for answers to questions he was constantly asking.

_-Strongly Agree_

He felt ill. He knew what he did was wrong. He knew he shouldn't have run. He knew he shouldn't have acted the way he did. The more he thought about it, the more it hurt. The bird wanted to apologize, say he was sorry, and try to salvage any remnants of a relationship he could have with his friends, even if they could just only become good acquaintances.

_-Strongly Agree_

Did they hate him, he wondered. How mad at him were they now? Were they scheming against him? Did he lose any chance he could have with Margaret? Did he lose any chance of staying with Rigby?

Mordecai looked at the console in front of him. A bright screen shone in his eyes, as little letters and numbers flashed in all their pixilated glory. A small keyboard lay in front of him containing the usual numbers and letters that all keyboards carry. He couldn't focus on any of it. Red and brown colors began to swirl in his sight. He reached out to grasp them, but they disappeared before he had a chance.

He answered the only way he knew how.

_-Strongly Disagree_

_

* * *

_

Margaret didn't know what Rigby was talking about when they entered the Walls-to-Walls. It seemed like your normal everyday department store to her. The place did seem a little big and mildly off setting at first, but it wasn't anything that she hadn't seen in other places before.

"Welcome to Walls-to-Walls," said a greeter in a tired and uncaring way. "May I take your umbrella for you?"

Without even waiting for a response, the employee took the umbrella from Margaret and Rigby and placed it in a plastic bag with a number on it. He then handed them a pink slip of paper with the same number on it.

"Have a nice day," he finished as he turned away to greet another customer. Margaret couldn't help but think how rude that was. She hoped that none of the other employers were as bad as this. Her attention was turned to Rigby a moment later when she witnessed him moving like a lunatic.

The raccoon zigzagged back and forth from one hiding place to another, while the robin simply walked straight ahead toward the little open stand in the distance marked "customer service". It was only a couple of feet away from the entrance, so she didn't understand what all the hubbub was about. She twirled the dented shovel in hand, trying to keep herself from getting bored.

"Would you stop that?" she snapped at Rigby.

"They'll see us if we stay in sight too long," he snapped back, looking all around him for any signs of movement. "And quit throwing that thing around. You're gonna get us killed!"

She continued to whirl the shovel around, ignoring everything the raccoon had just told her. Margaret had to admit though, it was strange. Save for the greeter and some staff at the cash registers, she hadn't seen very many customers. There were a few here and there, but they were jogging around, trying to get out of there as soon as possible. It did seem odd to her, but they weren't going to be there long enough to care.

Rigby scouted ahead, looking left and right and approaching the service counter first. He let out a panicked moan when he got there. Margaret caught up to see what he was worried about.

"No, no, no," Rigby screamed as he looked ahead. The customer service area was an in closed area in its own room it turned out. Metal shutters had been pulled down, denying any access into the room. A sign on the shutter read…

_Currently resupplying. Will return shortly. For additional help, please find me at the camping department. -Erickson_

"I thought they were supposed to open 24/7," Margaret commented as she read the sign.

"Stupid idiots," Rigby screamed at the shutter as he kicked it with his foot. "You should have gotten enough supplies to last you the whole day!"

Margaret had no idea what the raccoon was talking about, but deemed it enough for her to roll her eyes and ignore him. She noticed a clock hanging on the wall: 8:35pm.

She sighed and began to walk past Rigby.

"Where are you going?" the raccoon asked her almost concerned.

"To the camping department. What aisle do you think that's on?" She answered him. The bird continued to walk until she felt something latch onto her leg.

"Are you crazy!" Rigby panicked. "You'll get killed if you go out there!"

"What is with you and getting killed in this place?"

"It's dangerous!"

"And you care about my well being NOW!"

The red bird began to shake her leg furiously. Her attempt to shake the raccoon off her was in vain as he decided to latch on as hard as he could. She finally gave up, and just began to walk with him on her.

"We just need to find someone," Margaret continued, "someone that can tell us where the camping department is."

"No," Rigby argued, "we need to find someplace to hide and wait for them to reopen the shutters!"

"Rigby, that could take all night," she said as she stumbled to walk. "I don't wanna be stuck in here while the snow piles up out there."

They both continued to argue at each other while slowly making progress through the store. The first area they approached was the grocery aisles. Margaret was impressed by the amount of food one store could carry, and all for so low of a price. She was surprised she didn't shop here when she was living by herself. Still, much like Rigby, everyone she knew advised her to stay away from the place.

She took some peanut butter off a shelf, setting down the snow shovel, and looked at it and the price. She decided to hold on to it and take it with her.

"What are you doing!" Rigby screamed as he latched on tighter to her leg.

"I want to get some peanut butter. The price is really low and I know we're running low at the house-"

"PUT IT BACK!"

She was about to start kicking the raccoon in sheer annoyance at this point. Sadly, she knew if she did, she would be kicking herself and probably end up falling in the process. Plus, Margaret didn't feel like making a scene in the middle of the store, even if there weren't any customers nearby.

"Rigby, look… we need this. It'll look good on both of us if we brought home something other than just snow shovel."

"JUST PUT IT BACK!"

"Listen you stupid raccoon, I-"

She stopped herself when she noticed a small child a few feet in front of her. A little human girl as it turned out, maybe no more than six or seven. She had on a pair of tattered blue jeans and a dirty pink shirt with a dinosaur on it. Her straight blondish hair reached down to her shoulders, being held in place by a bright red ribbon.

"Hi there," Margaret said in a calming voice. "Are you looking for something?"

The girl didn't answer. She just stood there looking at Margaret and Rigby, her eyes darting back and forth between the two.

"Are you lost?" Margaret continued, "Do you need help finding your mommy or daddy?"

"Throw the peanut butter at her," Rigby yelled. "Bash her skull in with it!"

"RIGBY," Margaret scolded as she turned away from the child. "What is wrong with you!"

_"Stufffff…" _cried an eerily childish voice.

Margaret looked back at the girl. She was only an inch or so away from the bird. The avian jumped and fell backwards onto the floor, causing Rigby to detach him self from Margaret and back away from the two girls.

"Oh sweetie," Margaret said nervously, "you scared me. Is there-"

Without warning, the girl lunged at Margaret, grappling her to the ground while screaming at the top of her lungs. The bird dropped the peanut butter as it went rolling along the floor. The girl began to claw and scratch at Margaret's face while screaming.

_"MINE! IT'S MINE," _the child screamed. _STUFFFFF!"_

Margaret brought her wings up to try and protect herself. This was second time in two days she had to do so, and she wasn't happy either time it happened. The girl continued to bring her hands down upon Margaret, not caring of what the bird thought.

Suddenly, something flew out of nowhere and slammed itself into the little girls head. It bounced off and hit the floor. It was the bottle of peanut butter that Margaret had picked up. She looked over at Rigby. He had thrown the bottle. She looked back over at the girl.

The little girl's eyes began to wilt and water. She let out an earth shattering scream as tears began to fall down her cheeks and onto Margaret's jacket.

"Rigby," Margaret screamed, "look what you did!"

The bird didn't even get a chance to comfort the little girl before Rigby rammed into the little girl with all his might, knocking her off the woman. He grabbed Margaret's wing and pulled her up, dragging her along with him as they ran away.

"Rigby," Margaret yelled again, "you need to go back there and apologize. What you did was mean and-"

She cut herself off once again, when she finally noticed them: People of all shapes and sizes in the aisles, throwing things off the shelves, sniffing out what was left behind, yelling, screaming, physically attacking one another. When she saw a still body on the floor when they past a drink aisle, she feared the worse. A symphony of "stuff" moaned around the store, as they continued to run.

"What's going on?" Margaret asked the raccoon. "What are these things!"

Rigby looked back at her with a solid expression. "Stuffies…"

"Stuffies?"

The leading animal nodded as he ran. "They're people who can't leave this place cause they're addicted to the low prices here. They've lost the will to live because of them. They're like walking dead!"

Margaret suddenly realized that the zombie genre was no longer her favorite kind of movie. From now on she was going to stick with sappy depressing period pieces.

They had begun passing through the clothing section, as both of them observed some stuffies tearing into fabric and choking one another with it.

"In here," Rigby yelled as he noticed the dressing rooms. They both clamored inside one of the rooms and slammed the door shut, narrowly avoiding a stuffie that had just barely noticed them trying to escape.

Once inside, they stopped to catch their breath. Margaret breathed heavily as she cracked the door to the dressing room to peak outside. Those things were out there, shambling along and acting as monsters to one another. Never in her life had Margaret seen people do such cruel and terrible acts of greed and violence on one another.

"This is insane" she muttered.

"Tell me about it," Rigby said as he tried to catch his breath.

The girl closed the door and moved a few steps back to lean against the back wall of the tiny closet sized room.

"How do you become one of those things?' she asked quietly.

"You get addicted to shopping for stuff here at low low prices even though you don't need them. I was one of those things for like a week."

"And you changed back?"

"Thanks to Mordecai," he said with a sad smile forming over his face that disappeared just as quickly.

Margaret let out an exasperated groan. "Well, what do we do then?"

"I don't know," Rigby answered, "but I can tell you what we should of done…"

"Let it go Rigby!"

"You let it go! I told you all we had to do was sit and wait, but noooooooo. Margaret had to go and get ourselves attacked by a crazy little girl."

"Which reminds me," Margaret started, glaring at the raccoon, "you shouldn't have done that to her. She didn't want to be a stuffie thingie! It was probably her parents fault she's one of them."

"SHE TRIED TO KILL YOU!"

"I was doing alright without your help." She was lying of course.

"No you weren't! If I didn't have any peanut butter on me, you would have been baby food."

"Oh har, har, har… you think that one up all by yourself Rigby?"

_"Stuffffff…"_

They both froze in place as the groan from outside got louder and multiplied. A powerful bang shook the door to the dressing room, causing the raccoon and red robin to jump in fright. Suddenly, the banging came from all around as the sounds of moans and groans erupted through the walls. Beneath the cracks of the door, they saw the various shuffling shadows move back and forth.

"Now look what you did," Rigby angrily, though quietly, said.

"What I did?" Margaret argued. "You were the one screaming at the top of your lungs, as usual."

"Stop talking," he whispered in a loud sort of way.

"Quit saying that," she said back.

"Then stop talking!"

"You stop talking!"

They erupted into arguments again, their voices slowly climbing from a low whisper to high pitched shrieks, most of the high pitched noises coming from the raccoon.

"Rigby, I will slap the stripes off your tail if you don't stop it," Margaret bellowed.

"Yeah, because we all know how much you like to chase tail," Rigby fought back.

The red robin screamed, picked up the raccoon and threw him out of the dressing room. She quickly pounced on him, ignoring the shuffling stuffies surrounding them. The bird pinned his arms to the ground, ready to deliver physical justice on him, but was stopped when she underestimated his height and a foot came up and kicked her in the gut.

"Low blow," she coughed letting go of the animals arms and clutching her stomach. The upper part of her body fell to the ground, while her lower half supported herself on its knees.

"What's the matter?" Rigby said with a smile. "Wanted me to go lower?"

He picked himself up quickly, and looked for a point of exit. A small opening at the feet of some of the stuffies seemed like the right place to go. He gave Margaret a wink before falling on all fours and beginning his sprint. But he barely got two steps before the robin grabbed his tail and fling his body up into the air, and then down on the tile floor. A shockwave of pain coursed through his jaw.

"Oh I'm sorry," Margaret grunted sarcastically, "I forgot that you only like birds with blue feathers playing with your tail."

The two glared at each other, waiting to see who would deliver the next blow. But they're feud stopped abruptly when they noticed that they were surrounded by a swarm of the zombie rip offs.

"Any ideas?" Rigby coughed out as he rubbed his aching jaw.

"Not really," Margaret answered with one hand still on her belly.

They looked at the shambling messes surrounding them that began to slowly trudge closer to them begging for "stuff". Margaret looked up and saw the little girl stuffie from before leering down at her. The girl lunged forward and Margaret shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable to happen.

The sound of a 'thud' and some fast foot steps caught her ear as she shot her eyes back open to see what had happened. The girl had been tossed aside, and was in the middle of temper tantrum. Margaret suddenly felt someone pick her up and bring her to her feet. It was a dangly teenager, wearing a bullet proof vest, and wielding a sniper rifle. A name tag on his vest read "Jeremy, Shelter Manager".

"Are you alright?" the teenager asked.

Margaret was still in shock of what just happened to answer.

"Are you alright?" he repeated, shaking her a little.

"Ye-Yes… I'm fine," she finally answered.

The boy then quickly brought up his rifle and shot it directly behind Margaret. She turned around to see a tranquilizer dart stuck in the neck of a customer that was about to attack Rigby.

"Get your friend," Jeremy said in a hurry, "follow me."

Margaret didn't ask questions and spooned up the raccoon into her arms. How many times has she held the raccoon like this while in a panic, she wondered. She followed the teenager who was clearing a path through the various aisles of the store, taking out as little of the stuffies as he could to try and "conserve ammunition". It took Margaret a while before she realized that they were being led back to the customer service area.

Sure enough, they arrived a minute later to where they had first started. The shutters had been pulled up and two guards stood on watch as Jeremy, Margaret, and Rigby ran toward them. Margaret could make out the inside of the enclosed area where a counter with various items lay on top. Not only that, but several people with fear covering their faces waited inside, looking out the entrance with worry and concern.

"I found two more," their protector screamed as they crossed the threshold into the room. "Shut the gate!"

The two guards nodded and step inside, both reaching up and pulling the shutters to the customer service room down.

Margaret let Rigby drop to the ground, falling to the floor a few seconds later her self. She was out of breath and ready for a goodnights sleep. A woman in a Walls-to-Walls uniform with the nametag "Natalie" approached Margaret and Rigby with a large blanket and wrapped it around the two of them. The red robin took a closer look of the nametag and noticed the title "Assistant Shelter Manager".

"Hello," the girl greeted, "my name is Natalie. How may I help you today?'

Margaret gave the girl a confused look before glancing at Rigby. "What's going on?"

Rigby shrugged and looked around the room. "They didn't have this last time I was here."

"They added the refugee camp a few months ago," Jeremy said above them as he reloaded his rifle with another dart. "Too many people were complaining about the attacks."

"Is there anything I can get you two today?" Natalie continued to asked. "Water? Food?"

"Bug off Nat," the male said annoyed.

"Fuck you, faggot," the girl screamed as she stood up and gave the teenager her middle finger. "This shit ain't worth $6.25 an hour," she said as she walked away.

"Don't mind her," the male employee told them. "What can I do for you two today?"

The bird and raccoon then both remembered what they had come there to do in the first place.

"We need to return a defective snow shovel for a new one," Margaret said.

"Alright," Jeremy confirmed. "Do you have the receipt?"

"Right here," Rigby said with a smile as he pulled out the receipt out from under the blanket.

The clerk took it in his hands and read the transaction history slowly. Content with what he saw, he handed it back to them. "And the snow shovel?"

"Well we have that-" the bird began, but stopped when she realized something. "We don't have it!"

"Well where is it?" Jeremy asked slightly agitated now.

Rigby rolled his eyes. "She dropped it in the grocery section."

"I was going to pick it back up, but you had to grab me and drag me off to wherever."

"Well excuse me for wanting to make sure you aren't killed!"

"And I already asked you, when did you actually start caring ABOUT ME!"

They both stopped arguing for a second to look around the room. Everyone had their eyes on them, wondering what they were going to do next.

"Excuse me," Margaret said softly to Jeremy, "do you have a room or something that my associate and I may continue our discussion in."

"There's a training room in the back," he told her as he pointed to a door labeled "Training" behind the counter.

"That's perfect," Margaret finished, getting up with Rigby as they both walked to the door with the blanket still around them, opened it, entered, and slammed it tight. They opened it and closed it again a second later when a piece of their blanket got stuck in the doorway.

The training room was a small basic area. There were a few cubicles in the center, each enclosed off so no one could cheat or copy off one another. One of the open cubicles that the duo could see carried a few pencils, some papers, and a computer. Nothing fancy.

After observing the room from the door and finding it was secure, they set their sights at one another again.

"What is wrong with you?" Margaret asked the raccoon.

"What's wrong with me?" Rigby repeated her. "What's wrong with you?"

"Hey, I'm not the one with the problem here. You've been the one making quips about me for the twenty-four hours. Very rude ones if I might add."

"Well then quit acting like a B then, and I'll stop."

"A B? I'm acting like a B? I didn't go and start beating up a woman the other day with his fists. And while we're at it. B? Why don't you grow up and say what it is you actually want to say."

"Cause I don't need to say mean things to get my points across," Rigby yelled.

"You wanna know why?" Margaret responded. "That's because you're not mean... you're just PLAIN hateful."

"I'm not hateful! You're hateful!"

"Oh I'm hateful am I? What about you making comments about me sleeping around, or about me being mean and playing with Mordecai's feelings, or how about 'I hate you, I hate you, I hate you' thing from the other day?"

"You deserved it!"

"How did I deserve it?"

"I didn't give you permission to say things about me to Mordecai!"

"You just told him you liked him a minute before I said anything!"

"You said you wouldn't tell him!"

"Well then I'm sorry you don't have the guts to tell him yourself!"

"I TRUSTED YOU!"

Margaret opened her mouth to say something but stopped as the words were about to escape. She looked down at the wrapped up raccoon's eyes and tried to make sense of what he just said.

"No you didn't," she rasped out.

"Yes I did," he answered. "I actually liked you!"

She wasn't sure if he was lying or being sincere.

"After," he continued, "after that thing with the vines. I really started to like you, cause you actually cared about what I thought. You listened to me, and you didn't laugh, and you didn't make fun of me because of it."

Margaret stood by and listened.

"So yeah," he added, "I beat you up, and… and, I'm sorry, but I thought I could trust you."

"I thought you hated me," Margaret finally said.

"I did. I hated you a long time. I've been Mordecai's friend since forever and I've been the one who's always wanted to be with him! And I don't want anything coming in and stopping that. He's my best friend. Even after everything's that happened lately, I still think he's my best bro. I would have liked him better if we were something more, but I know that's never going to happen. And then you come along with a handshake out of nowhere, and I'm yesterday's news. He completely ignores me whenever you come around."

"And I'm sorry for that," the bird told him, "I didn't mean to try and steal him. Hell, I told him that the other day."

"And then you broke his heart because of it!"

"I didn't mean to do any of that!"

"But you did! And now he hates both of us!"

There was an awkward silence between the two of them as they stood there waiting for someone to break the ice.

Margaret sighed and knelt down to the raccoon's level. "Look, Rigby," she said caringly, "I like Mordecai. I like him a lot. I like you a lot too. But… I don't know if I like him in that way either. I don't know if I just like being around him because he makes me feel good about myself, or I like being around him cause I actually feel something for him."

She places her wing on Rigby's back and rubs it softly. "He's a great guy," she continues, "and so are you. But I just… I'm just really confused right now. I'm lonely. Like you."

There was another awkward silence before she continued. "I'm lonely for something more. I'm tired of all those guys who I date, fuck, and just be done with it. I want something better. I deserve something better."

Her eyes meet the raccoon's. "We deserve something better," she added, pulling the raccoon into a hug. "Let's just hope that our something better doesn't turn out to be the same guy again."

Margaret sighed, her thoughts turning to Mordecai again.

"I'm jealous of you," she said turning her head away from him. "You've known him so long. You know he's the one for you. I wish I had that kind of dependency."

Rigby took a gulped and looked at the shy bird. She was never a bad person, and he knew this. In truth…

"Well... well you know I'm jealous of you too," he admitted. "You can get him to notice you just by walking in the door. I have to scream in order to make him take me seriously."

"He ran from me," the raccoon finished.

Margaret looked back over at him, and pulled him in tighter.

"He ran from both of us, Rigby," she said as she continued to rub the animal's fur.

A loud bang sprung from one of the cubicles, catching the attention of both the bird and the mammal. They stood up, their blanket falling to the ground, and went to examine the sound.

"A stuffie?" Margaret asked.

"Maybe," Rigby answered her.

It was coming from one of the back stations. They peaked around the corner, and gasped at what they were staring at: A blue jay in a chair looking at them. The computer behind him read the question:

_You would rather work on a project with a group than by yourself._

Margaret smiled happily at him, her heart raising to it's highest happiest moment. She approached him, looked at the bird with relieved eyes, and punched him clear across the beak. His head slammed down on the desk and hit a button on the keyboard.

_-Strongly Agree_

_Losing Touch – The Killers_

**Author's Notes**

You know, I really hate how FF dot net changes the format of these stories sometimes. Ugh... Still, I really liked writing this chapter, but then again I like to write the action and the character drama all at the same time. The next chapter is gonna be a doozy of a story when it comes to our three mains, so be prepared. Also, lets rejoice everyone! As of this chapter the main writing body of Triangles is complete. Hurray! The whole story is going to be 25+ chapters, but I'm not gonna say how many.

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	18. Is it Real?

**Chapter Eighteen**

**Is it Real?**

Margaret and Rigby didn't want to admit it, but they had missed Mordecai the past twenty-four hours of him running away. Perhaps that was the real reason they had been angry at each other. For that, they wanted to hug and apologize to the blue jay and try to make him feel better about everything that had happened. That didn't work out so well when their natural instincts kicked in when they saw him.

Margaret allowed a swift kick of her foot to connect with the bird's gut as he lay dazed and confused on the ground.

"This is where you were!" she screams at him. "You don't want to take responsibility for yourself so you run off to Walls-to Walls!"

"I didn't run off to Walls-to-Walls," Mordecai defended, as he coughed in pain.

"Then what are you doing here?" Margaret asked him.

"Girl," Rigby squeaked as he jumped on the counter in the cubicle, "check this out."

He points to the computer screen that Mordecai had been sitting in front of this whole time. Displayed was his application for employment at the store.

The robin reads what's on the screen and grunts through her teeth. "And you were just gonna abandon everything, like that!"

"It's not like that," he whimpers.

She kicked him again. "Quit lying!"

"I was gonna call you two… eventually."

She reached down and slapped him across the head. "Eventually! When is eventually supposed to be?"

"When I got settled down?" he answered with a shy smile on his face.

She reached her hand back up to slap him, but was stopped when he brought his wings up to protect himself.

"Hear me out," he spat. "I-I-I just didn't know what to say! I needed some time to think about things and get back on my feet, ya know?"

Margaret retracted her wing, and brought it back down to her side.

"I shouldn't have run," he continued, "I know that now. It was stupid and immature and just a really dumb thing to do. I'm sorry I did that. But can't you guys look at it from my point of view?"

The raccoon and red robin exchanged unflinching glances at one other before looking back at him.

"It's weird," Mordecai answered them, "seeing your best friend and the girl you like go out with each other, and then um… try to seduce you. And then find out that everything in your life was bass ackwards. I mean you guys can see it that way, right?"

Margaret and Rigby looked at each other again and tried to dig deep into their hearts to find the sympathy needed to forgive him. They admitted that it certainly was a lot for the blue jay to handle in a single sitting, and they both had taken out most of their pent up anger out on each other. So maybe there was still a chance that the bird could be forgiven and that the three of them could act like adults for a change. Still, both Rigby and Margaret had some rage left in them.

The red robin rushed down to the ground and pinned the blue jays feet to the floor. "Hit it," she said in an uncaring voice.

Mordecai, confused, looked up to see his best friend leap from the counter in cannon ball formation right onto the blue bird's groin area. His scream of agony could be heard from all over the store.

"We forgive you now," Margaret said with an evil smirk.

The male curled himself up into a fetal position, his hands cupped over his privates, hoping that the duo wouldn't make an attempt on his own duo again. "Couldn't you have found a less painful way to teach me a lesson?"

"No," both Margaret and Rigby said in unison.

"You kicked me in the groin before," the raccoon commented further to his hurting friend.

"Yeah, but," Mordecai coughed out, "that was funny…"

"So was this," Margaret said before her and Rigby belted out in laughter. From that day forward, Mordecai made it a promise never to physically abuse Rigby again for comical effect… for one month. That was going to be a hard oath to keep though.

A knock on the door alerted the group, forcing them to remember that they were not alone.

"Is everything okay in there?" Jeremy asked from the other side. "I heard a woman scream."

"We're good," Margaret laughed as she walked around the cubicles and toward the door. She opened it to find the refugee leader with some packages under his arm.

"Good to hear," he said as he dropped two soft, rolled up sleeping bags in front of them. "Listen, they're doing a sale on flat screen TVs in electronics and it's a total mess out there. Natalie and I have been ordered to assess the damage and rescue any survivors, so we're putting this place on lock down."

Rigby peeked his head over the cubicle as Margaret's jaw dropped.

"But, what about the snow shovel, and our refund?" she pleaded.

"Your receipt is still good for another week, you can come back then," he answered them.

The raccoon jumped over the cubicle and onto Margaret's shoulders, latching himself onto her. "But we lost the shovel out there."

Jeremy turned on his heel and began to exit. "If you want to go out there and find it, be my guest. Just know this. I've instructed both guards to not let anyone in here until the sale is over. Which means, you can go out anytime you want, but don't expect us to let you back in."

"And when does the sale end?" Margaret asked.

"10am," the associate answered.

"Are you kidding?" Rigby yelled. "That's not till tomorrow morning! Are you saying we have to sleep here?"

"That's what the sleeping bags are for," Jeremy added as he released his rifle from the holster on his back. He opens up the ammo chamber and begins to insert tranquilizer darts, one after another.

"That's BS," Rigby continued to scream.

"You can brave the storm if you want. But I wouldn't recommend it. Weather is saying it'll be probably two feet of snow by tomorrow afternoon. As sad as it sounds, your chances of survival are better in this god forsaken place... unless, of course, you know someone with four wheel drive."

The man giggled in a repulsing matter before closing the champer on his gun. He then turned his head to nod at the trio. "Good evening," he said as he left the room, and slammed the door behind him.

"God damn it," Margaret muttered under her breath. She looked down at Rigby and then to the two sleeping bags rolled up on the floor. "What? No pillows?"

The door into the room then opened up, and two pillows flew right into her face, before plummeting to the ground. Rigby chuckled at her misfortune, before the plummeting pillows fell on top of him. Margaret laughed along with him. Mordecai let of a nervous chuckle as well. They frowned at him.

* * *

Rigby lay in his sleeping bag, listening to Margaret's slowly breath as she took in and released air. Both the female bird and the raccoon had decided to sleep in a bag together by the entrance to the room, while Mordecai got one all to himself in the back corner. Neither of them really wanted to talk to him at the moment, so they decided to let him stew in his own juices for a while. Of course, that's what Rigby told Margaret he was doing.

He couldn't sleep. They had turned the lights and the computer monitors off, save for a single one, giving the room a dim green glow about it. It was just enough for the three of them to barely make out anything in the room, just in case the place got attacked by stuffies. Rigby found himself watching the glow in the room flicker and brighten every so often before going dim for a few minutes and going bright again. The raccoon looked over at Mordecai in the corner. He slept in an open sleeping bag with his back towards the other two, but he could tell that the bird was asleep. His back inflated and deflated in a quiet schedule.

Rigby's mind was attacking itself again. Even if two other people were in the room, they were sleeping and couldn't offer any sort of interaction with the young man. He wished he could wake Margaret up and talk about things like he did every so often with her. She was such a good listener, and she never judged him. Well, not until lately, but they got over that. Mordecai never judged him, at least, Rigby thought. He wasn't so sure about that anymore.

He needed to talk to someone right now. His mind was playing tricks on him again, and he needed something to take away from that. Maybe these computers had some nifty games on them. But he knew they didn't, and made no attempt to get up and check. Maybe there were some nice people out there who he could talk to. But everyone was probably asleep anyways, or too traumatized to even speak.

He didn't want to out and out wake up Margaret just to talk. They had only just gotten back on the right track, and he didn't want to ruin that. He would need to wake her up without letting her know he was trying. So he brought his hand from out of the bag and placed his claw onto the tile floor. He began to slowly scrape it along, creating a quiet but noticeable sound in the room. Margaret stirred from her slumber, but not enough to fully wake her. She simply readjusted herself and fell back into total submission. Rigby let out an annoyed sigh and looked up at the ceiling.

When he instinctively looked over at his best friend in the corner, he saw Mordecai with his head turned looking at him. The bird then quickly looked away and covered himself with his sleeping bag. The sound of the zipper curling up and enclosing him in his cocoon echoed through the room.

"Mordecai?" Rigby said quietly. He looked over at Margaret, who was still in dreamland, and drew himself out of the sleeping bag. Quietly he crawled over to his friend's bag and poked at it. "Mordecai?"

No response. The bird didn't move or make a sound. He kept inside the darkness and hoped the little bundle would go away. If only he had closed the bag completely. Rigby poked his head in and Mordecai jumped as he found himself about an inch from his friend face.

"Dude," he whispered, "you woke me up! Go back to bed!"

"I can't sleep," Rigby told him. "And you were already awake."

"No I wasn't," the bird argued, "I was just, um…"

He tried to think of something, but couldn't find a good excuse to use. He sighed in defeat and stared at his friend. "What do you want, Rigby?"

The raccoon looked at him and back at Margaret. Now was as good a time as any.

"I wanna talk," he said as he looked to his friend, "about things."

"Can't I just go back to sleep?" Mordecai asked him as he continued to try and hide himself from his friend.

"Bro, were you even asleep to begin with?"

"Yeah… er, no…"

The both remained in silence for a few seconds before Rigby got up some courage. He squeezed himself inside the sleeping bag, grabbed the zipper from the inside and closed the thing up tight. They both lay in darkness together.

"Dude, what are you-"

"I like you, okay?" Rigby blurted out quietly.

Mordecai flinched at his friends statement. Whether the bird wanted to or not, he was going to have to take about this.

"Like, like me like me?" the blue jay retorted, only realizing a second later how childish that sounded.

"Yeah," Rigby answered, "I, uh… like you, like you." He too realized how awkward that sounded after being said out loud.

Mordecai stopped from saying anything else and tried to readjust himself in the darkness of the bag. He could feel the tips of the raccoon's fur touching his feathers, and he wasn't sure what to think of that.

"I know," the bird said softly.

"How long have you known?" the raccoon asked, feeling a little embarrassed about the whole thing.

"For a while. Well, actually… I didn't really know. I just sort of… guessed."

"How can you have guessed?"

"Dude, seriously?" Mordecai said with a smile on his face, though Rigby couldn't see it. "You've always been kind of clingy to me, and all you wanna do is hang out with me, and whenever you get angry or sad you always run to me, and-"

"You're my best bro! Why shouldn't I do that kind of stuff?"

"You're like a little kid, Rigby," the bird snapped, his voice a little higher. "You just wanna hang around me all the time, every moment of the day, every second of my life. It's kind of annoying."

"Well you're like that with Margaret," Rigby countered. "All you wanna do is be around her and all that stuff. How is that any different with me?"

"Because, well…"

Mordecai didn't want to say it. He was afraid that he might saying something wrong and hurt his friend's feelings. He knew he had already done that, but he just didn't want to make it worse than they already were.

"Well… uh…" Mordecai tried to cough out. "She's a girl, and um... you're a dude, dude."

"So?"

"I don't like dudes like that."

"Neither I do," Rigby pleaded. "I just like you."

The raccoon took a gulp of air and looked at his friend pleadingly, even though Mordecai couldn't see it. "I never saw you as a 'bro'. I saw you as my bro... uh, friend. Wait, I don't think that made sense. Hold on…" Rigby grunted at himself as he stumbled upon the right words to say.

Mordecai sighed, but listened intently.

"We've always been together, Mordecai," the raccoon said, "just you and me. I mean, didn't you see something like this coming? I always knew that we were going to be together, just not like… that. But now I guess I like you… like that."

"When did you realize you liked me… like that?" the bird coughed out.

"I don't know," Rigby answered, "maybe always. C'mon man, you just always know how to…"

The raccoon paused a second, trying to find a way to express how he felt. He had never really thought about saying these things before, so he never realized how difficult it would be to say them.

Rigby took in a breath and let it out slowly. "You know how to make me smile, bro."

The azure man felt slightly taken a back from his words, and let out a deep sigh as he sat on his friends words.

"Well," Mordecai began, "it's not like I haven't thought about you and I before… in that way."

Rigby's ears perked up. This was news to him.

"I mean," the blue jay continued, "I always thought that if you were a girl, or if I was a girl, or if like something happened to make us together in… that way, then it wouldn't be so bad. It would kind of be… nice… I guess."

"Why nice?" Rigby pressed. He wanted to hear more.

"Dude, do I have to explain it? You know me! I know you! We've known each other since we were kids! We know each other inside and out. Um… well, almost anyway, except in that way."

"Like what way?" the small animal added in anticipation. He could feel those cravings build up inside of him again.

Mordecai let out a nervous laugh before continuing. "Like… kissing, and touching, and um… stuff… like that. Stuff that couples… uh… do…"

These words; what was Mordecai suggesting? The raccoon could feel the heat in his body rise, and it was taking all of his will power to keep from unleashing it. He had always been a person to never hold anything back and let his emotions do all the talking. Maybe a test? He could test the waters and see if he should proceed. They were surrounded by darkness in that sleeping bag, so Mordecai would never see it coming. It was going to take all of his courage though. He only hoped that the taller man wouldn't react negatively to it.

Rigby took in another gulp and reached out a hand toward the blue jays chest. He felt soft feathers envelope his palm a second later.

Mordecai jumped at first from the touch, not expecting it. He wanted to stop what was happening and yell at his best bud, but he allowed the raccoon's hand to feel the area, simply under the reasoning that this was his friend. A moment later, he felt the other hand on his chest, and the fingers curl and slowly move along his upper body. Mordecai let out an anxious gasp as Rigby felt the feathers beneath his fingers.

They had a soft touch to them. As the raccoon drug and held onto the feathers, he did his best to try and memorize the feeling, just in case he never got that chance again. How they curled upwards as he slid along them, only to fall back in place as each feather was let go. The feeling of the spine that kept each feather locked into flesh, and how they had a strange smooth quality to them. He slid his hand down, allowing himself to feel the flow of the quills on the bird's belly. He pressed down slightly to see if flat feathers had any different feeling to them, and laughed at how doing something so simple caused the blue jay to pant uncomfortably.

Rigby could feel the heat from his friend's body reach a point as well, though he couldn't tell if the heat was from excitement or worry. He wanted to look into his eyes and see his expression, but the darkness sheltered him from it. If only he knew that while Mordecai's body reacted favorable to the touch, his face was covered in terror and panic.

"Rigby," Mordecai began, feeling uneasy in what was happening. "This is weird dude. I don't think we should be doing this. You should probab-"

But he was cut off when he felt furry lips placed on his beak. The blue jay's blood pressure shot through the roof. This had gone too far. He wanted to stop, but… something cracked inside him. He wasn't sure exactly what it was at first, but for some reason, he allowed it to happen. His body began to react of its own free will, so he leaned into it and enjoyed the feeling. There was something familiar about it that he couldn't figure out. The first time Rigby had kissed him, he didn't want it. Now, he wasn't so sure anymore. It was warm. No movement to it. So simple. An urge to pet and feel the fur in front of him crossed his mind, and caused his heart to skip a beat at the suggestion. Would Rigby mind if he did that?

He suddenly felt the raccoon's hands dig underneath his feathers and reach flesh. He gasped through the kiss at the sudden feeling of the caress. Mordecai's response was to wrap his wings around the fur of the raccoon and pull him in closer.

Now Mordecai would freely admit that he had petted Rigby on more than one occasion, and he wouldn't be afraid to admit it. So the feeling of his friend's soft pelt on his feathery hands and against his chest was not unknown to him. But this felt a little different this time. Little tickling prickles fluttered through out his body as he petted and held the coat in his arms. It was an exotic feeling, an aphrodisiac that he wanted more of.

Rigby couldn't wait anymore for his friend to slowly figure it out. He needed to let it out. The raccoon's mouth opened slightly, as he made an attempt to enter the bird's mouth. Mordecai better judgement screamed to refuse, but his body happily agreed, drunk on lust, and opened his beak slightly to allow entrance. Rigby found it to be… difficult to say the least. The bird had no lips, so the raccoon found himself having to constantly move his mouth to get comfortable with the kiss. Mordecai sensed his friend's struggle and lean in a little bit, before beginning to flick his tongue against his friend's.

They both let a quiet gasp as they both tussled in each others arms and mouths. A few moments against each other, and the two broke away from the kiss, hungry for more. But something else-

"No," Mordecai said as he pulled away. He clasped his friend's hands away from his chest.

"What?" Rigby said startled. "Mordecai?"

"I don't want to lose it," Mordecai blurted out. "I don't want to lose what we already got."

"But…"

"You're my friend, dude. I don't wanna lose a good thing. I don't want…"

He started repeating himself, unsure if these were the words he wanted to say. Mordecai was confused, and didn't know his right from his left anymore, let along red feathers from brown fur. All he wanted… was somebody.

"We're friends," he finally said. "We're best friends. I don't wanna start something and then something happen to us, and we lose something like that."

Rigby could feel the blow of rejection coming toward him at mach speed.

"I love you, dude" Mordecai said. "I love you more than anybody else I know. And it's not that romantic crap. It's that… I care about you more than anyone sort of crap, and I don't want to lose that."

"But we could try," Rigby pleaded. "What about what just happened?"

Mordecai searched for his friend's cheek in the dark and placed a wing there, his thumb caressing the area softly. He didn't want to say these words and hurt Rigby. Hell, he wasn't even sure what he was saying. The bird wasn't sure if he was being honest, or going back into his shell. "Look, dude-"

The door to the room slammed, and shook the two back into reality. They unzipped the sleeping bag to investigate what had happened. They scoped out the area, hoping that no stuffies had made it inside. Something else caught their attention though. Across the room, the other sleeping bag was empty.

"Margaret?" Mordecai said into the room. He spied the room inside and out, hoping to find the robin somewhere. Now was not the time to be playing hide and seek. "Are you in here?"

"Bro, she's fine," Rigby said as he followed his friend around the room. "She probably went to the bathroom, or something."

Mordecai wasn't willing to take that chance. He walked over to the exit and stepped out of the room, Rigby in tow. They walked into the lobby area of the camp and scoped the area. There were a few survivors covered in blankets and sleeping bags, resting comfortably, completely unaware of the danger outside that place. Two guards conversed with each other near the shutters about some meaningless subject and noticed the two men coming out of the training room.

"Can we help you?" said the one with a name tag that read Richard.

"Yeah," Mordecai answered in a soft voice as not to wake anybody who was sleeping up. "Did you see a girl with red feathers in here?"

"We sure did," the other guard, nametag reading Nicola, said. "She went out into the store on her own. Seemed pretty shaken up about something."

Mordecai's eyes glared directly to his feet at Rigby. The raccoon looked away from his sight and tried to act as innocent as possible.

"Open up," Mordecai grunted at the two.

"You sure?" Nicola asked. "Cause once we close this thing, we ain't opening it back up until Jeremy and Natalie get back."

"That's fine with me," the bird said.

The two guards exchanged a quick glance before nodding and walking to each side of the shutter. They placed their keys in the bottom of shutter in unison and turned the lock just the same. The shutters quietly opened a quarter of the way before they stopped.

"Okay," Richard said, "crawl on under."

Mordecai wasted no time in ducking under the shutter and returning to the main store.

"Mordecai, wait," Rigby called from the other side. He crawled under the opening of the door and grabbed his friend's hand. "Don't close the door yet," he beckoned the guards.

"You have sixty seconds," someone called back from behind the gate.

Not as much time as he wanted, but it was hopefully enough to convince the bird back inside.

"Margaret can take care of herself," Rigby told him. "Don't worry about her."

"Dude, go back inside," Mordecai responded. "I'll go find her."

"But she's fine! Don't worry about it."

"Rigby, she needs help!"

"You don't know that," Rigby tried to tell him.

"RIGBY, GO BACK INSIDE," the bird screamed at the top of his lungs. He pulled his hand away from the raccoon's grip, causing the small animal to tumble to the ground.

Mordecai looked down at his friend who suddenly adopted a frightened expression. "Dude, I'm sorry," he said, "I'm really confused right now, and I got a lot on my plate. You and I had a… 'talk', and now Margaret and I need to have a talk, and I need to find her to talk to her about our talk."

He wasn't aware of the things that were coming out of his mouth again. He was too high strung and panicked to care.

The blue jay kneels down and picks raccoon up and places him back on his feet. "Just give me some time, okay, bro?"

The raccoon sighed and nodded. He suddenly felt himself get pushed down and under. It happened so quickly, he wasn't aware he had been placed on the other side of the shutter.

"Mordecai," Rigby yelled as the shutter came down, sealing him inside.

Mordecai didn't have any more time to deal with Rigby. His thoughts were focused on Margaret at that moment and where she could be. If she went on to try and face the stuffies alone, she wouldn't last. Mordecai picked up his feet and began to sprint around the store.

The good news about Walls-to-Walls was that it only had a limited amount of aisles, so locating Margaret should be a relatively painless procedure. It's only relatively painless because Mordecai would have to make sure to avoid the shopping zombies lurking the store in random drones. The moans of _"stufffff" _echoed through all the aisles as Mordecai ran up and down each section, one after the other at top speed, only slowing down to get a better look at any of the downed survivors.

He had forgotten just how hectic the Walls-to-Walls could be. How everything was about survival and who could get what first and how fast they could get out of there. He remembered when Rigby became a stuffie at one point and had to be coerced out of the store to save him. He didn't want to repeat that terrible moment. It took him a full week to save Rigby. He could only hope that there wasn't a sale on anything that Margaret was dying to get her hands on or else she might become one of those things too.

When he couldn't find her in the grocery section, he proceeded into the clothing department. This section proved much easier to traverse as most of the stuffies were fighting one another over control of some stupid article of clothing made out of some fabric that Mordecai didn't care about. He needed to catch his breath, so he stopped next to the changing room Rigby and Margaret had ducked into a few hours prior. A group of four employees were doing the same thing, patching each other up with medical kits and exchanging ammunition for their weapons.

"Hey," Mordecai yelled as he approached them. His outburst was rewarded with four weapons pointed at him. None of them looked lethal though: a BB gun, another tranquilizer rifle, a canoe oar, and a sling shot. "Don't worry," he screamed, "I'm not one of them."

They all lowered their weapons and eyed the blue jay questionably.

"What do you want?" a haggard old man who look like he had been through a few wars asked.

"Have you all seen a girl with red and white feathers run through here," Mordecai asked in a hurry.

"Oh I did," a female in the group, nametag reading Zooey, said as she pointed in the direction opposite of them. "I saw her running in the direction of the toy department."

"Thanks," Mordecai said to the four of them as he was about to leave.

Right then, a large man pushing a shopping cart full of half priced TVs plowed through the clothing department, stuffies latched onto him and chasing him in his wake.

"It's a big one," one of the employees screamed as they raised their weapons high.

Mordecai decided not to stick around and see the outcome of the battle. He only assumed it went sour from there as he headed toward the toy section. As he approached the aisle, he felt Zooey wiz past him as she had been thrown a good thirty feet, hitting a display of hockey sticks in the process. She picked herself up and looked at the damage at her feet.

"Weapons over here," she screamed to the other three as she picked up four hockey sticks and ran back to the battle.

Mordecai shivered at the though of Margaret having to face one of those things and proceeded into the first aisle of the toy department.

Children stuffies made up the majority of the threat here and weren't anything more than a pushover. Mordecai found that he could just walk slowly past them and they wouldn't care either way. It seemed simple and easy going at first, but when he noticed seven or eight of the little cretins mauling an adult, he picked his speed back up into a sprint and continued to look in a hurry. He stopped in an aisle marked specifically for stuffed animals and found a trail of animals leading out of the toy department. Curiosity got the better of him and followed them out. They led into the home repair part of the store, eventually leading him to an aisle that actually had been built into a corner.

There in that corner was a mountain of stuffed animals. There must have been close to fifty there, all stacked onto a messy pile. There in the center of the soft creatures, lay Margaret, looking distant and staring up at the ceiling.

"Margaret?" Mordecai panted as he leaned against a shelf to catch his breath.

Her eyes darted to him, but she remained unmoving all the same.

"Stufffff…," she whispered.

Mordecai grabbed the handle of a paint can without even thinking. If he had to knock the girl out and drag her out of the store to cure her of this curse, he would.

A smile crept over her face suddenly. "Just kidding," she said with a chuckle.

The blue jay sighed and released his handle on the paint can. "Don't scare me like that," he said as he approached her. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she answered as she turned on her side. "Laying here relaxing on this pile of stuffed animals."

"Why?"

She took a deep breath and allowed her smile to disappear. "When I was younger, there was this store that my mom would take me to when I was younger. It had this big stuffed animal pit where you could pick out any animal you wanted."

The smile then crept back onto her face. "Instead of letting me pick one, my mom would always let me jump into the pit and just lay there. We knew the owner of the store, so they didn't mind. It really helped calm me down."

Mordecai sat down on the hard floor next to the pile. "And you need to be calmed down now?" he said looking directly at her eyes.

"Kind of."

"Why?"

She shifted on her pile as she tried to figure out what to say.

"This and that," she said quietly.

"Like what?"

Mordecai was being persistent. She knew he was going to continue to pester her until he got the answer he was looking for. Truth be told, she didn't want to talk to him right now. She wondered how long she could keep up her façade.

"Just… stuff," she said not wanting to look at him.

"Is it about me-"

"Look," she interrupted, "I just want to be alone right now."

Her face actually showed anger on in, and she wanted to be as far away as possible. Mordecai sensed this and got up from his seat. He didn't say anything else. He just began to walk away.

He began kicking himself for allowing Rigby to say and do those things to him. She must of heard everything that was going on in the sleeping bag and couldn't take them. Whatever chance he might have had with Margaret was gone now, all thanks to a couple of minutes of confusion thanks to his raccoon friend.

"Wait," she suddenly said. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait."

Mordecai stopped in his tracks and looked back at the red robin.

"I lied," she said as she sat up from her makeshift bed. "I don't want to be alone."

Her breathing began to pick up steadily, and she began to look at Mordecai with needing eyes. "I don't want to be alone."

Her eyes began to wilt up with tears as she did her best to brush them aside with her wings.

Mordecai turned around and approached her. She instantly brought him down onto the toys and embraced him tightly.

"I hate this," she said softly as she hugged the man, "I'm not supposed to be feeling like this. I'm supposed to be stronger."

The blue jay didn't say anything and allowed the bird to vent her frustrations.

"I'm supposed to happy. I'm so supposed to be happy that you two are seeing each other eye to eye finally, and I'm not supposed to be feeling like a jealous idiot."

Jealous?

"You're jealous?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah," she confirmed as she brushed another incoming tear from out of her eye.

"Why? Rigby and I didn't do anything or nothing."

Margaret laughed at her friend. "You know you're a terrible liar, right?"

Well he wasn't a terrible liar, but he was pretty transparent when he was around the girl of his dreams. He blushed slightly at her perceptive behavior.

"It's just," she stuttered, "it's just that I look for a guy, and none of them are really anything special. Then I find two guys I feel like I could actually fall for, and they end up getting together with each other. Can you believe that?"

"What!" Mordecai yelled, "you think Rigby and I are together?"

Margaret took another deep breath and tried to calm herself down. "Yeah, I mean, you guys were making out in that sleeping bag weren't you?"

Mordecai blushed and tried to look as innocent as he possibly could. "You don't uh… we're just friends."

"Really?" Margaret commented as her usual smile began to come back on her face slowly, "there were sounds coming out from under there that seemed a little more friendly than usual."

The bird tried to say something, but found himself regress back to his usual shy self around the girl. Only this time, it was out of more than just shyness; total embarrassment.

"You know," she continued, "I already told Rigby this, but originally, when I was still working at the coffee shop, I thought that you and him were already a couple."

The blue jay went still and silent suddenly. Something was having trouble processing through his head. Actually, it wasn't that something was having trouble processing, but that it actually didn't want to process. Her explanation explained a lot about the past few months.

"Are you kidding me!" Mordecai screeched. "Margaret, are you kidding me!"

"Rigby had the exact same reaction," she said as a matter of fact. "He didn't take it too well either. Though, it did kind of force him to take a second look at how he saw you."

"So all those times that I…" Mordecai said to himself.

"Sorry," she said, "I guess I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Maybe if I had paid attention to you better, things between us might have been different."

This was a nightmare. That was what Mordecai suddenly thought to himself. This entire time he had been trying to get together with Margaret, the entire time he had been trying to not act like himself, and the entire time he had been acting a fool. He didn't know if he should be laughing his butt off at the situation of if he should just cut his losses and run straight into the arms of his raccoon friend as they live gaily ever after.

"It made me notice you more though," she squeaked out. "Especially lately. Made me notice how much of a gentlemen you are. Haven't met many guys like you."

Mordecai looked back down at her as she shuffled in his arms and rested her head against his chest. The blue jay suddenly thought that his chest was apparently the place to be that night.

"I mean," she continued, "your shy, and goofy, and kind of a stalker, but…"

She began to blush slightly and tighten her grip around the bird.

"But you still find a way to make me smile. And you try too. You actually try to get with me. I'm so used to men just saying what they want, and not trying to impress me, or make me feel I'm special."

Her eyes looked up at him. "You actually tried to do that. And you did make me feel special. And how did I react to that?"

She took a deep breath as her face fell sullen. "I play around with your feelings and make you feel like an idiot. Then I go and break your heart, right as I realize that you're actually a good person. I screwed up. I turned into a monster and hurt you."

Her grip around his back loosens, and Mordecai feels that she is about to let go.

"Seems like the only way I can actually get guys to like me is to sleep with them, or flirt, or just act like some stupid bitch. I can't figure it out. Why am I like that? How is it that I can be so nice to someone one second and then be a total bitch to them the next? That's not normal, is it? Why is it that I actually like you, then I want to sleep with you, then I want to hate you, and then I like you again?"

Mordecai compensated with her loss of grip by tightening his own hold around her.

"I'm not making any sense, am I?"

The blue jay sighed at her and allowed one of his wings to trail the back of her head.

"Yeah, but," he began as he started scratching the back of the robin's head softly, "I don't think any of us have been making any sense lately."

"I guess so," she agreed, allowing herself to tighten her hold on him again.

Mordecai looked up around the aisles. No one was within his eye sight, and he felt he needed to do something while he was sharing this moment with the girl.

"Margaret," he said softly to her.

"Yeah?" she answered as she tilted her head up from his chest to look at him.

They looked into each others eyes for a few moments, before Mordecai leaned done and caressed his beak onto hers. She muttered something inaudible, possibly something about stopping, but didn't bother to repeat it as she rubbed her beak back, eventually leaning into a kiss, opening her beak and flicking her tongue along the male's bill.

Mordecai opened his own mouth and began to slowly whip his tongue against Margaret's, causing them both to giggle in pleasure. They held onto each other as tight as possible. Mordecai's other wing began to slide under the back of the girl's shirt, rubbing the feathers on her back slowly. She broke away from the kiss to let a light gasp to escape her beak, a lusting smile forming on her beak a moment later as Mordecai kissed and cuddled into her neck.

Her hands grabbed at the blue jays feathers for grip as her the tension through out her body built. If she wasn't careful and controlled herself, she would end up seducing him right there and do an unspeakable act in the middle of a store. But then again, she was the one actually being seduced, so she was having trouble already controlling the situation. But the feeling was incredible. She had never really been seduced by someone else. Every so often there would be a guy who would woo her off her feet, but this. It was romantic, and gentle, but forceful and controlling at the same time. There was a word to describe those things: passion. She couldn't quite remember the last time she felt passion in her life. Maybe sometime around high school maybe?

Margaret let out a sharp gasp that could be heard a few aisles over as Mordecai changed it up a bit and playfully bit his beak down on her neck softly, giving her his own definition to the term lady "pecs". No other man had ever gone as far as try that with her. She decided to add it to her list of things that she loved in bed.

She had the sudden urge to play and tug at Mordecai's tail feathers, but stopped herself as her arm trailed halfway there when she felt the bird opposite of her playfully up the ante.

Mordecai's hormones and lust were beginning to play with his body, causing him to want to do more than just kiss and hold the girl. He didn't notice when it happened; how his hips just sort of grinded into the girl causing a small joyful shiver to go up his spine. It wasn't as though Margaret didn't enjoy it, as she let out a small shiver of her own. But this was starting to get out of control...

"Okay," she said letting go of the embrace and trying to push him away, "okay, okay. That's enough. We're getting a little too heated here."

Mordecai pulled away from her neck with an embarassed smile and a red feather dangling from his mouth, the spine hanging from his teeth. Margaret burst out laughing at the image, as did Mordecai. They both laughed at what had suddenly happened as their bodies cooled from the attention they gave each other.

"Wow," she said catching her breath, "that was nice."

Her eyes caught Mordecai, staring deep into her soul.

"Okay," she said again, "when we get home, we really need to talk about this. All of us. That includes Rigby. Together in the same room."

The blue bird nodded with her, looking surprisingly calm about everything suddenly. Margaret was kind of taken back from this. He was usually shy and displaced around her. It was like he was a completely different person now.

"So…," he coughed out, "are we… together now?"

Well, apparently he still had that moment of shyness in him, so he wasn't a COMPLETELY different person. He just had more confidence now. Still had the stalker like tendencies though.

"Maybe," she told him as she leaned in and allowed her forehead to rest against his, "Maybe not. I wanna talk about this weird thing the three of us got going on first, okay?"

"Okay," Mordecai acknowledged.

"Feeling better?" Margaret asked him. "I mean about Rigby and I?"

Mordecai nodded and gave her a giant smile. "Definitely."

"See what a make out session with your friends can do to help your self esteem?" she asked in a joking manner.

Suddenly, the scream of some stuffies resounded all around them. The two birds picked themselves up and placed their feet firmly on the tile floor. Some items shuffled across the floor, signifying that one of the creatures was in the next aisle over. It appeared a few seconds later. A tired old woman wearing a beat up church gown noticed them. In one hand, she carried some bags of vegetables and a carton of milk, while in the other hand…

"Oh no," Margaret sighed as she noticed the item in the elderly woman's other hand.

In the woman's other hand was their snow shovel, in all of its dented glory.

Margaret turned to her friend and looked at him pleadingly. "I need that," she said in a pathetic begging manner, "or Skips'll kill us."

Mordecai stood there and pondered for a moment why a snow shovel would cause their yeti co-worker to kill them. It was strange to him. One second he was making out and feeling up his best friend, then the next second he was doing the same with the girl he cared for, and then the next he found himself latching onto the handle of a paint can and attacking an elderly old stuffie for a snow shovel.

The things we do for love.

_Is it Real? – Yoko Kanno and Steve Conte_

**Author's Notes**

Soooo… anybody up for a game of Left 4 Dead? Heh heh… Not much to comment on this chapter. Once again I found myself teasing the audience with my sick ramblings of the love between two birds and a raccoon. Go fig… anyways. Hope you all enjoyed it anyhow. I tried to give both Rigby and Margaret some equal make out time with Mordecai, but I think Rigby got the better deal with it. I'll make it up in the next chapter. Speaking of which:

**As a note: Chapter 19 and on till the end of the story are M-rated territory. I will make sure to warn you what to expect from each chapter before it begins, staring with Chapter 19. So heads up!**

_So Until Next Chapter…_

_Adieu…_


	19. Am I Crazy?

**Chapter Nineteen**

**Am I Crazy?**

Mordecai's grip on Margaret held tight on her hand as they dash through the Walls-to-Walls with snow shovel in hand. They found it best to get as far away from their previous location after they knocked out that old lady. Who knows how long it would take before the stuffies noticed her body on the floor, but when they do, they would come running.

"The problem with stuffies," Mordecai explained, "is that if you attack one of them, they all get angry."

"But don't they hate each other?" Margaret said, tripping slightly as she was being pulled along.

"You'd think that," he added, "but they're just crazy. I don't get these people myself, honestly."

The two ran by the kitchen supplies and noticed the various weapons and pointy things that could be used to their advantage. And while Margaret wanted to stop and collect some defense, Mordecai kept on running.

"Mordecai stop," she screamed, "we can use some of this stuff against them!"

"No we can't," he screamed back.

"Why not!"

"Because anything we use we have to pay for!"

Margaret looked at him and groaned in ache. Rules, rules, rules. He and Rigby seemed to know more about what was happening in this place than she did. All she could do was nod and go along with it. Frustrating as it was, she vented it out by observing what was on sale and if she should grab something to actually buy before they leave. That peanut butter from earlier did sound good. But when she realized that meaningless stuff was slowly creeping into her brain, she shut them out. Last thing she wanted was to become one of these things.

They needed to get back to the customer service desk. Dawn would approach them in a little under two hours, and Mordecai knew that this place was a madhouse during the daytime, especially on a weekend.

It was as they passed the pharmaceuticals that they realized that they may need a change in direction. The pharmacy was located an aisle away from the front checkout, and when they saw several long lines at the check out counters, all of them red eyed in annoyance and ready to leave, they knew they needed a new plan.

"We need to go around," Mordecai said, "we'll duck through lingerie and kids clothing. It's just mothers and kids there, we can handle them."

He pulled hard on Margaret's hand, but she refused to move, causing the blue jay to stumble. She was too enamored by the lines in front of her. There was something about them that seemed off.

"Margaret, we need to go," Mordecai demanded.

"Their carts," she said quietly, "look."

The blue jay looked at the shopping carts and tried to see what it was she was looking at it. They were filled with the usual fare of groceries and miscellanies items: fruit, cereal, light bulbs, school supplies, and some winter equipment for the storm. Strangely, more than half of them had large boxes advertising flat screen TVs in them. Mordecai wondered why they were checking them out up front, and not in electronics.

"They all have TVs," Mordecai commented as he looked at Margaret. "What's so special about that?"

The red robin bit down on her beak and made a bee line in the opposite direction of their actual destination. Mordecai took off after her a second after noticing her going the wrong direction.

"What are you doing?" he screamed after her. "The safe room is the other way!"

"Something must have happened to Jeremy in electronics," she said back to him.

"So?"

"So? He saved Rigby and I from those things earlier. Maybe he needs some saving too!"

Mordecai didn't agree with this at all. Who was this Jeremy, and why should he even care? But Mordecai, still head over heels for the girl, went along with her anyways. He found it funny how she seemed to be more chivalrous in these situations than he or Rigby ever was. It was an honorable trait.

They both sprinted through the clothing department located in the middle of the store, using it as a shortcut towards electronics. Any of the stuffies that noticed them, shrugged them off since they didn't seem to be carrying any designer labels on them.

When the two birds made it to the electronics department, their eyes beheld destruction. Most of the display items and the shelves they had sat on had fallen and broken to pieces, while cases containing various movies and games had been broken and ransacked. Several stuffies lingered around, finding scraps in the debris and screaming for joy at their discovery. The employees, or whatever was left of them, lay on the ground in tortuous pain or even worse, not moving at all.

"You get why we don't shop here now?" Mordecai asked the robin. She nodded quickly and began to investigate the area, clutching the dented snow shovel close.

They both looked around the area extensively for the leader of the refugee camp. The place was a mess as it was, and finding someone in it, let alone someone who could or could not possibly be dead, was already difficult a feat. Several employees garnered in white suits appeared from everywhere with brooms and mops in hand, ready to clean up the destruction before them. It was a sad state to watch, as even the lifeless corpses of employee and stuffie alike were swept away. Still, it was almost fascinating to watch them scrubb the area clean in a matter of seconds.

"Jeremy?" Margaret called out as she carefully moved through broken glass and splintered wood.

The duo approached the check out counter in the middle of the department and looked inside. Jeremy was knelt done, patching up some wounds on Natalie's legs. She was passed out, sleeping quietly as if nothing had happened. While Margaret could only see the sleeping girl, Mordecai could see several tranquilizer darts protruding from her side. He didn't want to know what had happened there.

Jeremy sensed the sounds coming from behind him and quickly reached for his gun. "Oh it's you," the human male said as he let his weapon go and returned to the injured, biting off the wrapping bandage from the girls legs with his teeth.

Margaret brought her shovel up slowly, and tried to dawn a happier disposition. "We found our snow shovel."

"Good for you," Jeremy replied uncaring. He then placed his arms underneath his coworker's legs and back and picked her up with all his might. "You want a medal or something?"

Mordecai was about to complain about his attitude toward them, but one look around at the area told him not to say anything otherwise. Instead, he hopped over the counter and collected the two soldier's weapons.

"Thanks," the human said as he flipped a door open leading out of the enclosed counter.

He began to walk away from the battle field with no emotion on his face. "I'm dropping Natalie off at camping. They should be able to take care of her until the shutters open back up in a few hours."

"What about you?" Margaret asked sympathetically.

He sighed and kept on walking. "The sale is still going on till 10am, remember? Besides… I don't get to clock off till noon."

He continued walking down the tile floor with exhaustion and pain in his eyes. "Try not to look back," he told the birds. "It's harder to move on if you do."

Margaret and Mordecai followed him to camping, where he passed off the unconscious girl to several employees sporting hunting vests and a lot of firepower. They exchanged small talk about what had happened, and about all the causalities they had suffered.

"What's with the birds?" one of the employees asked.

"Oh, they just need an exchange," Jeremy said as he looked at the two.

Another employee to the side left momentarily, and returned with a brand new snow shovel in his hands. Margaret pulled out the receipt and showed it to them. They took it from her and wrote something down, not caring either way, before handing it back to her. She relinquished the defective shovel to them as well, which another employee took and complimented about how it was going to be put to good use. Margaret could only stand there and ponder if the thing was going to be repaired, thrown away, or used as weapon against the stuffies. She didn't dwell on it.

"We have a small camp set up for survivors," a female employee said pointing to three large tents set up on a display platform. "Most of the stuffies don't touch the displays unless it's some really big sale."

"Like what you saw in electronics," Jeremy commented as he began to walk away. "I would suggest you stay here till the safe room reopens again." And with that he walked away, cocking his rifle in hand. Margaret and Mordecai never saw him again.

* * *

"I don't like this place," Margaret commented as she snuggled up next to Mordecai on the floor of the tent. She was trying to be romantic, but conserve space since they were sharing a tent with five other people. Making matters worse, nobody could sleep as the maximum watt light bulbs from the ceiling of the store shined through the tent, making it nicely, though uncomfortably, lit.

"I know," Mordecai said as he squeezed her close with one arm, and squeezed the snow shovel close to him with the other. "Neither do I."

"Do you think Rigby's okay?" she asked him, enjoying the warm feeling they were sharing.

"I don't know," Mordecai answered. "He may still be in the safe house, but this is Rigby we're talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually left to go look for us."

Margaret let out a thoughtful noise. Hopefully, Mordecai was wrong and Rigby was doing what he was told for once. She didn't think about the worse case scenario. She had been thinking about those far too many times these past few days. She smiled and tried to lighten the mood.

"So," she whispered in Mordecai's ear, "didn't I tell you? Rigby's a good kisser, yeah?"

The blue jay shook where he lay. Not that he was embarrassed that he kissed his best friend who happened to be a guy, but more so that his female friend there was asking him if she was right. She was.

"He was… nice," Mordecai whispered back to her, hoping nobody else in the tent could hear them.

"He's a rough kisser," she commented, "kind of like you when you want to be."

"Wait a minute, he kissed you rough?"

"He didn't kiss you the same way?"

Mordecai cleared his throat and continued to look around for any eavesdroppers. Nobody seemed to care either way, and were more concerned with survival then meaningless love gossip.

"It was more," the blue jay started, "more… uh…"

He was looking for the right word, without sounding too sentimental or sappy. He still needed to act suave around the robin whenever he can.

"Tender," he finished the sentence. He immediately regretted using that word.

"Really?" she asked, "coming from Rigby? That's kind of weird. He's usually the type of guy who's all in."

"Yeah I know," Mordecai answered. "It's weird that he'd hold back."

"He must really love you then," the bird said as she rubbed her beak against the other bird's neck. A wave of shivers enveloped Mordecai as she did this, causing her to chuckle to herself.

"So," she continued, "do you like him that way?"

"Margaret," Mordecai started, feeling a slight tinge of annoyance inside him.

"Be honest," she said. "you've known him all your life, and then he actually tells you that he likes you. You run away from him, and then when you see him again, you make out in a sleeping bag." Margaret thought about it for a second and had to keep herself from laughing at the random turn of events.

"We didn't make out," Mordecai countered. He, of course, was lying.

"You still seemed like you enjoyed yourself," she said with a smile. "You were making some pretty interesting sounds under there."

"Well, if anyone tried that stuff on me, I'm gonna make those sounds. It's normal. Completely normal."

"So if Benson came up to you and wanted to 'ruffle your feathers' you'd let him?"

Mordecai jumped slightly. "No! What? No!"

Margaret let out another giggle, causing some of the other survivors to shush her, which only made her laugh a little more with some embarrassment added in. When the sound had died down, they continued their conversation.

"Maybe I do like him that way," Mordecai said. "It's weird thinking of him and me in a relationship like that, but… it's even weirder thinking of the two of us apart. I don't think I could see myself without the little guy running around at my feet."

He let out a content sigh thinking about the raccoon and everything the two of them had been through. "He's my brother."

"Maybe lover," Margaret added in a sad sort of tone. Mordecai heard it and kept her close to him.

"What about you?" Mordecai asked her. "What about us?"

"You still like me?" she wondered out loud to him.

"Definitely," the male told her. "Why wouldn't I still be crazy for you?"

She let out another small giggle and gave the bird a quick bird kiss on the side of his beak. While Rigby had grown overly annoyed by her smiled and laughs, Mordecai saw them as fuel to keep pursuing her.

"I don't know. I think…," she stopped herself midsentence and thought. "You know what?" she started again, "I don't know what I think anymore. Seems like nothing I think of makes sense."

She didn't sound sad, but more regretful.

"Does any of this make sense?" Mordecai asked her as his wing began to rub her back.

"I guess not," she answered sounding a little better. "It doesn't make sense that Rigby has a thing for you, it doesn't make sense that I'm working at the park with you guys, it doesn't make sense that you have feelings for me and Rigby, and it doesn't make sense that I'm starting fall for you myself."

They both lay there in silence for a few awkward moments.

"Are you gonna be alright, Mordecai?" Margaret asked him.

An itch poked around the back of his neck. He tried to scratch it but couldn't, leading him to twirl and crick his neck around to satisfy the feeling.

"Something wrong?" the robin asked with a little concern.

"'Got an itch on the back of neck," he said, "and I can't seem to scratch it."

She sighed happily and placed her wing behind his neck and scratched softly. The blue jay purred from the feeling, and laid back into it.

* * *

The shutters of the safe room opened right on the second of 10am. A group of people flooded in and out of the shelter as employees greeted and bid farewell to each person. Mordecai and Margaret were two of the customers who came in looking only to leave that place. Their intent was to escape this utter hell as soon as they found their raccoon friend.

"I wonder where Rigby is?" Margaret asked as she looked around the room.

No more than a second after she said that, Mordecai was pounced and slammed onto the ground by a brown blur. The snow shovel in Mordecai's hand nearly fell to the ground as well if Margaret hadn't caught it last second. Rigby wrapped his arms around his friend's neck and squeezed as hard as he could.

"Whoa bro," Mordecai complained, "I'm fine, I'm fine, quit that!"

"No," Rigby yelled as several people watched the tender show of affection. Most of them found it adorable. Everyone else just didn't care.

"C'mon, dude," the blue jay said with a smile forming on his face. "Let's go home."

He picked himself up off the floor with the raccoon still attached. As he stood up, Rigby twirled around his neck, climbing up to his head, and allowing his feet to dangle carelessly over the bird's shoulders. Mordecai chuckled at his friend, feeling almost like nothing had changed between the two of them.

The trio made their way to the front entrance of the Walls-to-Walls and looked out the door. The blizzard was still coming down at full force. Rigby and Margaret groaned as they realized how much of a hassle it was going to be to have to walk back to the park in single digit temperatures.

They collected the umbrella they had dropped off from earlier and exited the store, feeling a sense of something missing, like they had forgotten to do something. Margaret was the first one to speak on this impulse.

"Well that whole ordeal was anti-climactic," she said looking back into the store. "Anyone else still have their adrenaline pumping?"

Rigby and Mordecai nodded to her. They seemed to have excess energy that needed to be spent. It also seemed like nothing was going to come of it. There was no death defying battle, or injuries, or a journey to save themselves, the park, and/or the city. They had left there relatively unharmed and unsure of what was to come next.

The robin opened up the umbrella and prepared for warmth to over take her. The only problem was, nothing was coming out. Rigby and Margaret looked at the item and tried to figure out what was the matter. The girl shook it a few times hoping that would kick it back on, but no avail.

"It must be out of juice," she said looking at it.

"Give it here," Rigby demanded as he swiped it from her grasp. He looked at the inside and outside of the device carefully before slamming it into the ground left and right, and trying to get it to work somehow. It eventually fell out of his grasp and flew away with the wind.

"Good job, Rigby," Margaret sarcastically said.

"Not my fault," the raccoon responded to her with a huff. "Skips should've made it better."

Margaret sighed, not wanting to argue with her small friend. She was already freezing with the snow pelting at her face. She thought about Mordecai for a moment who didn't have any winter clothes from what she saw. She grew afraid they would have to drag him back to the park again.

"Wait a second," she realized. "Where is Mordecai?"

He had gone missing... again. He wasn't anywhere around the girl or the small male. They looked around in all directions to see where he went, but the blizzard was making it already difficult to see ten feet in front of their faces.

"Mordecai?" they both called out into the storm.

A pair of headlights lit up in a row next to them. They noticed it, but didn't move at first. When it lit up again accompanied by a horn, they decided to investigate. They walked over to the source of the light and found Mordecai waving to them in the doorway of a car. He motioned that they hurry on in. Neither of them had the intension of staying out there any longer than they had to, so they rushed over and jumped into the backseat of the car with him.

Mordecai shut the door as soon as he was inside. Both Margaret and Rigby were surprised to see him with a smile on in this weather. They glanced around the inside of the car. It seemed nice enough. The seats were nice and comfy, and it was already toasty warm inside the car. The seats were leather based, and the roof looked as though it could retract. Everything shined like it was brand new too. The inside was impressive. It must have been a very expensive car.

And then Rigby realized this was the car he saw the previous day that looked so familiar. And it donned on him who was the owner of this car.

"Hey Big Bro," an excited raccoon's head peaked over the driver's seat.

"Hi Don," Rigby greeted his brother with little enthusiasm.

Margaret's brain nearly burst as this new creature greeted them. This was Rigby's LITTLE brother? He was the spitting image of Rigby, but at least three times the size of his big brother. Not to mention he had this warm smile on his face that Rigby hardly ever adopted. She leaned over the front seat to get a better look on him.

She gasped loudly, covering her mouth at the sight.

"What?" Don asked looking at himself. "Do I have something on me?"

It wasn't that he had something on him, but the lack there of. He was completely nude. She had never seen anyone with a body like that so completely nude. She admitted that his body was nice and well built, but her eyes kept focusing on one particularly spot that should have been covered up. She leaned back into the back seat and released her mouth.

"Crotch," she whispered to the two in the back.

"Yeah," Mordecai told her, "takes a few days to get used to it."

All she knew was that crotch was going to haunt her for the rest of life. Or so she believed anyways.

Don, seeing nothing wrong with himself, shrugged it off and put the car into reverse. It sputtered and shook as it fought against the snow, slowly breaking away and finally moving backwards into the open road.

"I suppose I haven't introduced myself yet," he exclaimed looking through the back windshield as he backed out of his spot. "My name's Don. I'm Rigby's brother."

Margaret felt a little awkward around the large raccoon but decided to humor him. "I'm Margaret. I'm a friend of Rigby and Mordecai."

"Yeah I know," the larger raccoon said. "Mordecai's talked about you lot. It's nice to meet you Marge."

Marge? No one had ever called her that before. What an odd person this Don was. She didn't have an opinion on him just yet, but if he can learn to put on a pair of pants every so often, she might learn to like him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him curiously.

"I was waiting for Mordecai," he answered. "He said he went inside to fill out an application for employment. I told him I'd wait out here until he was finished."

"You've been out here more than twelve hours?" Rigby asked him with an unbelieving look on his face.

"Yeah," the larger raccoon answered, "I had my laptop and everything so I just did work while I was out here. Something wrong with that?"

None of them particularly knew why Don would do something like that, but as long as it made him happy, they really didn't care. Margaret wanted to ask him why he was with Mordecai in the first place, but she could get the answer to that later. She was too tired to even care.

The robin leaned against the door of the car, attracting her gaze to the snow outside. She wandered how long it would take for them to get back to the park. She looked over at Rigby and Mordecai who were whispering about something. At first, she thought they might be talking about everything that had happened, but when she clearly made out the word "stuffie" she knew it was just their usual fare.

She leaned her head against the corner connecting the seat and the door, closing her eyes and trying to relax. A moment later, she felt Mordecai's wing cross over her neck and rest quietly around her shoulder. She smiled and moved herself over to position her head against him. Her eyes opened slightly and noticed Rigby propped on Mordecai's lap, leaning back as he relaxed comfortably against the blue jays feather as his friend's other wing kept him tightly locked against his body.

The three of them leaned against each other and tried to rest. None of them could sleep though. As Margaret had pointed out earlier their adrenaline was still pumping, which made it all the more difficult for them to sleep soundly. None of them complained about it though. On the contrary, they were actually enjoying this moment of closeness. It was comfortable, relaxing, and heart felt. So being awake at that moment wasn't so bad, even if their hearts began to beat a little harder every second.

Margaret reached out a wing and scratched the raccoon's head. She was only allowed to do this for a few seconds before Rigby grabbed it and greedily wrapped in over himself much like Mordecai's wing. His body was now nearly covered by feathers. He let of a satisfied chuckle and readjusted himself on Mordecai's body. The two birds looked at each other and laughed.

"What going on?" Don said glancing at his rear view mirror for a split second to get a good look at the situation.

"Just Rigby being Rigby," Mordecai said, as he had said so many times before.

"What?" Rigby argued. "I can't help it that you two are comfortable."

The two birds continued to laugh at the small raccoon, refusing to break the embrace they had on them. Mordecai watched the robin laugh with him, and ceased for a moment to lean over and give her a kiss her on her beak, and then another one on the cheek, and then another one below her eye. Margaret blushed at him. All the while with Don driving, completely oblivious to what was happening in the back seat.

The three continued to sit in the back seat for a while, leaning against each other as they waited to arrive home. Though the blizzard seemed to be perilous for the driver, they found it gave them a relaxed feeling, like everything was going to be alright. Well, at least up until Don had to swerve out of the way of some skidding cars. The rest of the journey home seemed to go off without a hitch.

* * *

"So where is Skips anyways?" Mordecai asked Pops as they all sat at the kitchen table, sipping on hot cocoa.

"He went to go visit Benson at the infirmary this morning," the round headed man replied as he loomed above them.

"What?" Don exclaimed looking up from his mug. "When did Benson go to the hospital?"

"It's a long story," Margaret answered as she sipped on her hot drink. "And I don't think any of us want to talk about it right now."

Both the birds and the raccoon all groaned under their breath and shook their heads unhappily. Anything that had happened the past 96 hours wanted to be wiped from their minds completely.

"Is he going to be okay?" Don asked the naïve man above him.

"The doctors said he would be in tip top shape before months end," Pops responded sounding absolutely giddy. "I'm planning a surprise party for him! Oh, it will be so delightful!"

"A party?" Don continued. "That sounds like a great idea. Sounds like the best time to give Benson some sugar. I'll bet he needs it."

The conversation suddenly turned to the subject of the gumball machine and throwing a party for his inevitable return. The other three in the room weren't so sure about it and zoned out of the conversation between the two excitable men.

"And balloons and streamers!"

"And we can make Benson's favorite dessert!"

"And get him a gift!"

The two continued to banter back and forth, finally causing the trio to finish off their drinks hastily and exit the room. Something told them that Pops and Don would be down stairs talking about this for hours. This was fine. It kept them entertained and kept them both out of the cold. Rigby may not see eye to eye with his brother, but he was still happy to see him remain safe in this weather.

"Don is certainly something else," Margaret commented as they all ascended the stairs.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool," Mordecai said to her.

"To you maybe," Rigby responded as he ended that little triad of comments.

The bedroom never looked so pleasing at that moment. They had had trouble sleeping the past few nights so a good long rest after making up (and making out) with one another was at the top of their list, though their adrenaline was still up. They crossed the threshold into the room, Rigby entering last as he shut the door behind him as.

Margaret stretched out her back and wings, happy that she was in a safe place at that moment and with friends. She looked at the other two men who were doing the same, exchanging small talk before going silent again.

Rigby smiled at Mordecai who was laughing about something he had just said. That smile warmed his soul and told him that things were going to work out. The raccoon quickly shed his winter gear and pounced onto the front of blue jays legs and clawed his way up his to his head, clutching lightly at the bird's neck again, their faces looking directly at one another.

"Not tired, dude?" Mordecai asked him.

"I slept in the car on the way here," Rigby said with a grin.

"You actually fell asleep?" Mordecai continued to pester.

"Yeah. I already told you guys. It's not my fault you guys are comfortable."

Margaret giggled at them. "Don't worry Rigby," she told him, "I got a lot pent up energy too," she said as she approached Mordecai from behind and placed her arms around his waist.

Rigby shook for a moment, trying to keep balance from the sudden grapple that Margaret had on the blue jay.

Mordecai felt heavy. He had the two people he cared about most hanging on to him, and while he didn't particularly mind this, it was getting increasingly difficult to keep from falling. His legs began to bend and buckle as Margaret put all of her weight on his back, smiling as she did. Rigby watched the action to see if he was going to fall or not, letting out a brief chuckle in the process. Not wanting to feel left out, Rigby pulled all of his weight toward the front of Mordecai. It seemed like both the raccoon and robin were getting a kick out of the situation.

This little game became a competition between Rigby and Margaret as they pulled and tugged to see who would cause the blue jay to tumble first.

"You think he's gonna fall?" Rigby asked Margaret slyly.

"Oh I think he's gonna fall," she answered him.

"You think he's gonna fall toward me?" he continued to banter.

"No, I think he's gonna fall toward me," she playfully responded.

They continued to put more weight on Mordecai, hoping to prevail in the competition and winning some sort of mystery prize.

Suddenly, Margaret and Rigby felt the bird begin to fall, but not in the direction they were hoping for; they were falling to the side. They both looked down at Mordecai's legs to see him pushing to the side. When they both took a look on his face he had a giant grin all over his beak. The three fell onto the bed a second later.

"Ooooooh," Mordecai bellowed out as he bounced, "I win! Take that, both of you!"

He let out a righteous laugh as he used his wings to point at both the girl and boy in front and behind him.

"So what do I weeeeee-in?" he said in a sing song manner, as his body wiggled slightly in a celebratory dance.

"Do over," Rigby screamed, "do over! You cheated!"

"Yeah," Margaret agreed, "who said you were playing?"

"I did," the blue jay responded with a smirk. "And I won. So what do I win?"

Rigby peaked over Mordecai's looming body meet eye contact with Margaret. Neither of them were amused with the outcome, but weren't angry about it. A wily look appeared on Margaret's face suddenly. Rigby cocked his eyebrow at the bird curiously. She noticed this and gave the raccoon a wink.

In an instant, Margaret rolled over on top of Mordecai, grabbing his wings in the process and forcing him onto his back, causing Rigby to quickly scamper away so as not to be crushed. She pinned the bird down by his hands onto the bed, his legs dangling over the edge as Margaret sat comfortably on his lower abdomen.

Mordecai nervous personality erupted through him again as he found himself in a familiar position from a few days prior.

"Ummm… what are you doing?" the blue jay said with a blush.

"Well what do you think?" Margaret said coyly.

Her smile was beginning to scare him again as he tried to crawl backwards away from her. He was able to slide his legs through her and back away slowly, even with her grip on his wings. But as he started moving away slowly, Margaret made sure to lean forward and crawl toward him just the same. Mordecai's back eventually hit a wall, and he had nowhere else to go. He looked to his side over at Rigby hoping for some support, but was greeted with a slack jawed expression more curious as to what was going to happen next.

"Well you're no help, are ya?" the blue bird whispered to himself.

Margaret's hands fell onto Mordecai's shoulder, keeping the blue jay in place as she leaned her head into another kiss. She played it soft this time, keeping things on the level and not too strong for the taller man. Simple little kisses that lasted half a second of more, sometimes with a little tongue mixed in to give them both a quick jolt of fervor.

Mordecai would have been enjoying this if it weren't for the third wheel in the room, gawking at them with inquiring eyes. Margaret saw where his eyes were and tried to bring the blue jay back into her grasp. A wing slid from the man's shoulder across his neck, bringing Mordecai back into the moment. He shivered with delight as his attention began to fall back on Margaret. He fell into her seduction and slowly began to respond in kisses of his own.

Rigby felt a lump in his throat as he watched the two birds slowly kiss. He had never seen his friend do something like this before. He had heard stories of his friend's masculine conquests of other women and what he did, but he never actually saw him do this kind of stuff in front of him. Rigby expected his jealousy to get the better of him at any moment, but there was something else that seemed to over power that. He was enjoying watching them do this. It was exhilarating how the two birds started off so slow and steady and began to pick up the pace into a more passionate act. He let out a deep sigh in both excitement and disgust of himself.

Meanwhile, Mordecai had begun to muzzle at Margaret's neck, showering the area with quick flicks of his tongue and small bites from his beak. The girl giggled and gasped in delight as he leaned forward slightly, allowing her wings to cling onto his back.

_ZZZzzziiipppPPP_

Margaret heard the sound and looked down at her jacket. Mordecai's hand was on the zipper as he had slowly pulled the tag down. She looked at the blue jay who had stopped in his tracks. His gaze showed fear again, just like the last time, probably for what he was in the middle of doing.

"You okay?" she asked him with care.

Mordecai just sat there. He wasn't sure if he was going to be okay or not. In fact, he felt terrible at that moment. He didn't know what he was doing or why. All he knew is that he liked this girl. He REALLY liked this girl.

"I don't know," he answered her in a raspy voice.

"You gonna run away again?" she asked him with a small smile. "It's okay if you want to. We can stop."

Mordecai took a deep breath and stripped the robin of her jacket, leaving her pants and shirt left on her.

"I can do this," Mordecai said quietly to himself. Margaret didn't hear it, but knew it must have been something reassuring if he was willing to continue.

The sound of something hitting the floor alerted the two birds of the forgotten presence of another person in the room. Rigby had stepped off the bed and was already on his way to the door. A feeling of silent rejection had finally over taken him as he watched the lovers in their dance.

"Rigby," Margaret muttered, "where are you going?"

He stopped half way to the door and tried to look over at her, but kept himself from looking on. He felt a pit in his stomach grow larger as he watched them, and couldn't take it anymore.

"It's… it's alright," Rigby stuttered, "I'll be down stairs when you are… finished."

He continued to the door and put his hand on the door knob.

"Hey dude," Mordecai coughed out as he watched his friend. "You don't… you don't have to go. If you don't want to."

Rigby and Margaret both looked at Mordecai with the same look. What was he suggestion?

"I mean," the bird continued, "you-you can s-s-stay if you want."

"Bro," Rigby started, "don't you think that would be a little, I don't know, weird?"

"Um… C'mere…," Mordecai said with a nervous smile, motioning his wing over to the bed.

The raccoon looked at it questionably, but walked over to him slowly anyways. Rigby climbed on top of the mattress and sat next to Mordecai. The small animal looked at Margaret who gave him a shrug and an embarrassed smile.

"Well I'm here," Rigby said nervously, "now what?"

A wing then snatched at the raccoon's back and pulled him in close to the blue jay. Lip and beak met a moment later. Rigby tried to pull away at first (the fact that Margaret, let alone anyone, was there kind of turned him off) but when Mordecai refused to let go, he felt he had no choice but to submit. He felt the bird's tongue brush against his lips which sent Rigby over the edge, grabbing at his friend's neck and face and pushing into the kiss. The raccoon opened his mouth and allowed his own tongue to dance along with Mordecai's, stopping every so often to kiss all around the beak.

Rigby's tongue began to lace slowly along the blue jay's chin, causing a small lustful chuckle to escape Mordecai's mouth. The bird jumped when he felt another mouth invade his personal space. Margaret, not wanting to miss anything, kissed and stroked her beak against the other bird's collar. Neither Rigby nor Margaret acknowledged each other, allowing themselves to simply act on their own, not as a collective.

Mordecai, on the other hand, was trying to watch them both at the same time. Comparing the feelings he was receiving from both ends. Rigby's use of his tongue seemed to send little shivers down the taller male's body, which in turn caused gasps to escape just about every other second. But Margaret was different. She used her beak more so then anything else, knowing the right places to poke and prod to get a moan out. She seemed more… efficient.

The robin stopped her self as she felt something creep under her shirt. She looked down to find the blue jay's wing slowly making its way under the shirt and then up the female's chest. Though he was in ecstasy with another at that moment, his face was still covered with worry. He didn't want to hurt her or do anything that she might not like, and he was constantly confirming this with her as his gaze repeatedly shot back and forth from her shirt to her eyes.

Sensing the frustration and torment in the poor bird's libido, Margaret took the next step, placing a hand on her shirt sleeve and pulling it towards her. Her shirt flowed off her in a single motion, slipping onto the bed sheets from her arm. Mordecai and Rigby looked on. The girl was now shirtless, and not even looking the least bit ashamed about it. In fact, the look on her face was almost that of craving. She took Mordecai's hand on her body into her possession and smiled evilly. The wing was led down instead of up though, sliding along her belly and then unto her jeans, stopping at the button.

The look on her face said it all. She knew exactly what she wanted, and she knew exactly what Mordecai wanted. He looked at her with a nervous expression and unconsciously undid the button of her jeans. They slid off her a moment later and were carelessly thrown to the floor. The naked girl let go of Mordecai's hand, allowing him free will to do whatever after that. Of course, she knew exactly what the bird was going to do next… maybe.

Mordecai let out a heavy sigh as he contemplated his next action. He glanced over at Rigby to see what his buddy had to say about this. The look on the raccoon's face was priceless. He stared with wide eyes, utterly fascinated with the situation that was developing right before him. He jumped when he felt a finger glide down his spine, and to his tail.

"Huh-Ah," Rigby let out in surprise.

Mordecai smirked at the sound his friend just made. It's not the kind of sound that Rigby is known for: Those little squeaks and gasps that could be accomplished through the touch of another. Even Margaret couldn't help but giggle at the reaction.

The blue jay places his wing around the raccoon's tail, wrapping it into his palm to graze the fur on it in a back and forth motion, almost suggesting something. Rigby took a breath and a gulp at the same time. Rigby never let Mordecai play with his tail. He thought it was too weird. It certainly was an interesting feeling though. It wasn't that it hurt or wasn't pleasurable. It was just that… just a feeling. Not really impressive but enough to get a brief embarrassed smile on the raccoon's face.

Margaret leaned over to Mordecai within a second and whispered in his ears. "Go on," she said seductively, "I can wait."

The male bird kissed the woman briefly and took this as his sign to switch gears. He escaped his grasp the female had on him and lunged at the raccoon, causing Rigby to fall onto his back.

Mordecai made sure not to crush his friend. He wanted to make this good for him. It was weird looking at his friend in this way. The childhood buddies that they once were seemed to pale in comparison to the sudden spark of romantic electricity that had erupted between the two of them. Mordecai began kicking himself for not realizing something like this before. It would have saved him a lot of time and effort, that was for sure. He looked at his friend, trying to size him up.

He didn't know what to do with him. Rigby was so small, and he was so tall and heavy compared to the raccoon. It set off a panic in his head on what to do next. Mordecai felt little paws against his chest suddenly, like when they were in the sleeping bag. It was caressing and grabbing for feathers and flesh, feeling as much as it could, like this was the only other time he could do this. The bird blushed as his friend continued this. It felt so very nice, so Mordecai returned the favor.

His wing felt up against Rigby's side, feeling fur like he hadn't before. It was soft and warm. Surprisingly well kempt too, considering the raccoon's messy personality. Mordecai kept a dumb smile on his face the entire time too, giving Rigby the impression that he was being used; like Mordecai had the raccoon in the palm of his hand.

The blue jay's head crept down onto his friend's chest, flicking his tongue across it in the process. Rigby arched his body as Mordecai continued to lick at the fur, little shots of pleasure and euphoria going through his system by the second. The raccoon starting letting out loud pants, filling the room with the sounds of his excitement.

"Shhhh," Margaret whispered as she laid on top of Mordecai's back, the heat of her chest causing the blue jay to release a giggle fueled by his sex drive.

Rigby did his best to keep his voice down. After all, he didn't want to alert Pops or Don downstairs as to what they were doing. But he was finding it difficult to do so as Mordecai crept lower, petting and licking at the raccoon's belly.

There was this strange feeling that was beginning to envelope Mordecai as he continued to pleasure his friend. Something akin to obsession or maybe it was addiction. He wasn't sure what the word for it was though. But it was some sort of want. The sound that both these people next to him gave out as he continued to dance with him, made him grow more bold and daring in the process.

Rigby let out a broken grunt as Mordecai ceased his decent finding he could go no lower. The bird looked up at his friend briefly to see his face and body shivering in bliss. The blue jay's tongue lashed out at what he had found on the raccoon and felt his friend's body quake with joy. Mordecai's allowed a lustful grin to spread across his face as he listened to the raccoon quietly spasm. With his wing, he took the item between Rigby's legs in hand began to greedily lick and breath warm air onto the shaft.

Margaret looked at Rigby's face with surprise. Mordecai had apparently found something to actually shut the raccoon up. His face was wide and frozen in a state of shock and pleasure. The other sounds that came out of the animal were tiny gasps that either of them barely heard. She had to admit, the excitement of watching the two of them was keeping the fire in her stomach lit.

She let one of her wings slide against the side of Mordecai, before moving across his chest and then down to his belly, going even further than that afterwards, enjoying the feeling of his feathers fight against her hand. She cuddled her beak against him and allowed her own tongue to dash and flick itself across the neck and back of the blue jay. Margaret could tell he was enjoying it as he too gripped at the bed sheets with his spare wing. A quick breath escaped his nose as her hand found something to play with in between his legs.

Mordecai stopped himself of Rigby to turn slightly at her.

"Do you want me to-" he tried to ask her.

"Keep going," she cut him off, her hand slowly beginning to pump in rhythm. Mordecai let out a happy groan as she started her action. "I wanna see where this is going," she finished with a wink.

"You're next you know," he said trying to sound seductive, but came out awkwardly due to the feelings overwhelming his body.

"I know," she said contently. "I know."

And so he returned to Rigby: Licking at that spot on him that sent shivers straight through his body, causing something to slowly fill up the raccoon's body, and causing him to let out more small quiet gasps. And as it went on, Mordecai loved those sounds. He began to grow fond of them, wanting more and more to come out of not just his friend, but of his crush too. They made him drunk on lust and made him do things he wasn't even sure he was capable of. He didn't feel like himself, didn't feel like Mordecai at all. He was caught not between one, but two lovers, both of them begging for release.

He believed they needed him. He believed that he could have them. He believed that something like this could work out. He could love them both. As long as they needed him, that would be good enough for him.

And yet…

_Am I Crazy? – Little Fish_

**Author's Notes**

So ladies and gentlemen, am I crazy? I had been leading up to this chapter since I started the fic. The big M rated hullabaloo that I was talking about. It did have me worried, but looking back on it, I don't think it's any big deal honestly. Bleh. Some of you may be wondering about the start of this chapter and why it jumps around to so many different places. Truthfully, this was originally going to be a huge action chapter with Mordecai and Margaret dealing with stuffies and helping the staff escape and blah, blah, blah. When I was writing, I realized I was putting more emphasis on the employees and not on the mains, so I dashed that right out of the story.

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	20. Where Do We Draw the Line?

**Chapter Twenty**

**Where Do We Draw the Line?**

"Alright Benson, let's try this again," the therapist said as he reclined in his seat.

"Ugh, we've been doing this for hours," the gumball machine complained as he lay on his back on a couch in the middle of the office. He reached up and scratched the bandages on his head, covering up the already spread crack.

"Look," the doctor continued, "the symptoms you have are directly connected to your Missing Gumball Syndrome and-"

"And I already told all of you, all my gumballs are present and accounted for. I haven't lost any, I haven't broken any, and no ones eaten any of them except some unicorns that the idiots brought home a while back, and I got a refill for that the next day."

The doctor rolled his eyes and looked at his patient. "Be that as it may Benson, we have nothing else to go on, and each of these little sessions is telling us more and more about what is going on inside your head."

"Now," the therapist continued as he stood up from his chair, "I don't like this either, but it's the only way. So sit back, relax, and tell me what you see. And quit scratching your bandages!"

Benson grumbled under his breath, prying his own hand away from his head, seeing that he had no choice but to continue this pathetic exercise. He was ready to leave and resume work at the park, but nobody would allow him to until his headaches have subsided, at the very least. He didn't believe he had MGS or anything to that nature, no. He believed he was just over exhausted and in desperate need of a vacation or a few days off, or just anything away from the day to day stress of the park.

"Now close your eyes," the therapist told him.

Benson complied and let his eye lids slip shut. In his darkness he watched the faded shapes meld and mash together, all in a ballet composed of green and yellow. It was the usual thing he and just about every other person on the planet physically saw with their eyes closed as the light shined against their eyelids.

"Anything yet?" a voice questioned him in the darkness. Obviously the psychiatrist.

"Nothing," Benson answered with a frown.

"Concentrate harder," the voice said in a pushing tone. "No half-assing now."

The candy man gritted his teeth unhappily but agreed to the suggestion, none the less. He tried to look farther in, past the darkness and the colors and the shapes, and try to see something behind them; something that was still a part of him, but seemed like a completely different being.

An image began to form. A small room it looked like, not too small though. It carried a few bookshelves to the side, a patterned rug on the hard wood floor, and some furniture here and there, including a couch a desk and some nice and comfy chairs. Benson focused more to see where this was and realized that the room was occupied. A tall human in a suit with a lossened tie stood next to his desk, saying something that seemed completely inaudible. A man laid flat down on the couch explaining something to man with an annoyed grimace on his face.

"What do you see?" the voice of the therapist came forth again.

"I'm in your office," Benson responded calmly.

The doctor proceeded to look around himself as if to find another Benson standing somewhere he just couldn't see.

"Where in my office?" the human continued as his eyes moved along the floor to find something. "Where does it look like you are?"

"Behind your desk."

The man then ducked under his desk, examining the floor for clues or anything that might have stood out at the moment.

"You just ducked behind your desk," Benson commented with a funny smile on his face.

"Did you open your eyes?" the doctor asked as he peaked his head up from the floor.

"No."

The human male stood up. He looked left and right a second later, thinking of something. His hand came up and several fingers sprouted up, while several remained down. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Four," Benson answered with his eyes still closed. "Plus three behind your back."

The therapist jumped from his spot. His patient was absolutely correct. He was holding four visible fingers up, but had three from his other hand hiding behind his back: Seven in all. This was certainly interesting. Maybe the gumball machine was developing extrasensory perception. The doctor had dabbled in some parapsychology before, so this might be worth looking into.

"Impressive," the therapist said with a growing smile. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"Well let me check," the gumball machine told him.

Benson's "ghost" began to walk around the office of its own freewill, surprised by how vivid the images behind his eyes were. It was a strange feeling, like watching your self sleep or even walking in a dream. It all felt so surreal. He had felt these feelings before though. This was a standard exercise gumball people used to find missing gumballs. After all, they were part of their whole, and technically parts of their brain, so there was always some inkling as to where it was. One peculiar thing about it this time was the fact that he was moving around on his own. He was looking through the eyes of his gumball, which for all intents and purposes should be remaining still, unless someone kicks it or a gust blows it away. It didn't make much sense, but Benson tried not to think hard about it. He only knew what he knew about the dilemma.

"Anything yet?" the human asked with interest.

"Hold your horses," Benson argued, "I'm taking my time."

Benson suddenly stopped his ethereal walk to look at himself in the couch. He smiled at the expression his physical body was making: Grumpy and arrogant. And yet, he felt more carefree and happy here. It was probably because he didn't have to deal with work, but who's to say.

He continued to spy on himself before he felt something; something behind the couch. It was that feeling in the back of his mind again that had persisted for a while now. He knelt down and took a peak behind the arm rest.

_whoreslutHarlotyou'rEnothingyou''twantyouthEyneverwantedyou_

A sharp stinging sensation pierced Benon's head as his eyes shot open and he rolled off the couch onto the carpet beneath him, clutching his head all the while. The crack beneath his bandages poked through and began to spread further, reaching his eye and causing him to twitch in pain.

The therapist watched him convulse and immediately ran to his desk. He quickly pressed a button underneath him before opening a drawer and grabbing a bottle of pills. The man threw the lid open and popped out two pills. He jumped down on all fours and forced them under the twitching man's tongue. A nurse burst through the door a second later with residents in tow, ready to help the patient in need.

During that moment, Benson tried to piece together what he just saw and what it meant. But he didn't have enough time to contemplate it before blackness swept him away.

* * *

"So what are we gonna do about this?" Margaret asked looking slightly distant from the other two, even if she was so physically close.

The three players all lay in bed with sheets and comforters covering themselves up and keeping them warm. They huddled together on their sides staring at each other, save for Rigby who plopped himself in the middle clutching onto Mordecai's feathers with a grin on his face. The blue jay's wing was wrapped around his friend, with his palm patted against brown fur, and the top of his hand nestled with red feathers. Margaret kept a wing around Mordecai's side, letting it dangle happily over his back.

"Do about what?" Rigby asked in a sleepy sounding voice.

"Are you kidding me?" Margaret responded with another question. "I'm talking about this! The three of us and what's going on with it."

"Seems fine to me," the raccoon answered as he nuzzled up against feathers.

"It's not fine," Margaret argued. "If it was fine, then we wouldn't have done something that's usually reserved for porn stars."

"But you had fun though," Rigby said with a sly grin. "Loooooots of fun."

Margaret felt a blush form on her beak. "Well, yeah… but that's not the point."

"Well then what is the point?" Rigby asked her, feeling awfully proud of him self. "I had fun. You had fun. Mordecai here had fun. Nobody got hurt too badly, and everyone's happy. So I don't see what the problem is."

"Don't you think that it's a little off that two guys and a girl just happened to inexplicably do… that," Margaret continued trying to avoid the terminology whenever possible. It was too embarrassing to admit.

"You mean threeeeeee-waaaaaaaay," Rigby exclaimed out loud.

The red robin sighed and went on. "Yes, Rigby. That. You really don't see the problem with this?"

"Nope!"

"Well then let me spell it out for you," she started. "This shouldn't have happened. We should of just sat down and talked about all of this like adults, but we didn't. You know what we did?"

"Threeeeeee-waaaaaaaay!"

"Exactly," Margaret said with a grimace. "That shouldn't have happened."

"You started it," Rigby argued.

"I know," she said feeling regretful. "I know. And it's not that I didn't like it. I did. It's just that… this seems wrong. Like everything about what we just did seemed wrong."

"But it's not hurting anybody," the raccoon continued to argue.

"I know."

"And we had fun."

"I know."

"And we all got what we wanted."

"I know."

"So what's the problem? Hm-hm-hm?"

"My point is…," she said in a fit. She tried to think of something to bring the point home, but couldn't quite get anything in. "Look… I just don't want anyone to get hurt, alright?"

Her worry was cut short when she felt Mordeai kiss the top of her beak.

"I like this," he said contently quiet.

Rigby let out an audible laugh at Margaret. "See?" the mammal said with gusto.

"Well I do too," she answered with a brighter blush, "but it just seems weird. Like this isn't regular, you know?"

Mordecai looked at her worried expression and then down to the happy Rigby. He began to scratch the raccoon's back, causing the animal to squeal with delight.

"I'm seriously questioning my definition of regular at this point," the blue jay said as he watched his friend happily squirm in his grasp.

"No kidding," she said sarcastically, still feeling unsure.

"But you shouldn't be so worried," Mordecai continued. "If things don't work out then we can just stop. We'll go back to being friends, and we won't worry about it anymore."

"That's easier said than done," the robin bickered. "Something like this… these things don't work Mordecai, and you know it."

Rigby look up at her curiously. "So what, are you breaking up with us now?"

He sniggered happily as Margaret grunted again in annoyance. Mordecai sighed and tried to give his friend a disapproving glare.

"Rigby don't joke about that," Mordecai scalded.

"You see," Margaret interrupted, "that's what I'm talking about. Mordecai, you basically think we're in a relationship now, right?"

"Well aren't we?"

"Maybe… yes? I don't know."

"Well which is it then?" Rigby continued to pester. "Maybe or yes?"

"Look! This is just… it's just…"

Mordecai looked at the girl as she tried to find a way out of it. She looked at the bird with deadly serious eyes.

"Mordecai," she started, "what do you think about all of this?"

"What do you mean?" he asked her.

"I mean about this. Wasn't it only a few days ago that you were going crazy because I wasn't sure of my feelings for you? And you didn't take Rigby's coming out too well either."

"I DIDN'T COME OUT," Rigby yelled.

"Whatever, whatever," the girl said. "I'm just saying, Mordecai, that you went from hating to loving the both of us in just a little over a day. I mean… how are you handling that?"

Mordecai looked away from her gaze for a moment to think about it. An itch crept its way across his neck, forcing him to release his hold of Rigby and scratch it away quickly.

"Maybe I was just pent up, you know?" the blue jay reasoned. "Like I always really liked you Margaret, and that was always building. But when Rigby told me about him being… uh…"

He looked down at his friend who was giving him an evil glare as well. He thought it best to pick the right words for the conversation.

"Friendlier than usual," Mordecai said as watched his friend's frown turn into a smile as he cuddled against his chest again. "Well I guess that just made me release all my frustration and stuff on you guys in the wrong way."

"But now you like Rigby the same way as me," Margaret argued her point.

"I guess so," the blue bird responded. "I don't know why either. I mean, you were right, Margaret. I always did kind of know he felt that way about me."

"Took ya a while to notice," Rigby whispered to himself.

"You didn't notice either till recently Rigby," Margaret said out loud to him. "Go on Mordecai…"

"I don't know," Mordecai continued. "I guess being his friend for nearly twenty years finally caught up to me when he told me. I guess I just didn't want to face those facts yet."

Rigby listened on to the conversation, hiding behind a fake smile, his head dizzy with so many unanswered questions. He wanted to ask his love every single one of them and get a clear cut answer, but he refused. He didn't want to lose what he just got. He didn't want to jeopardize that.

"Mordecai," Margaret started again, "none of that makes sense though. This is all happening way too fast."

"When has anything we've been doing the past few months made sense?" Mordecai defended. "Think about it: the speakers, the electrical thing, the vines, Rigby getting attacked by a demon guitarist, all of our dates, the arguments, the stuffies, this thing that just happened. Has any of this made sense to you, Margaret?"

"No," she said feeling defeated, "but that's what worries me."

"Why?"

"Because I don't think this is done yet."

Mordecai scratched at the back of his neck again. His was beginning to think he must have been bitten by something (other than Rigby and Margaret) at some point during the morning.

"I like where we're at right now," Margaret said, "it's nice. It's really nice to feel loved liked this. Feels like I won't be sad again with so many people who love me unconditionally."

"Including Rigby?" Mordecai asked with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," the raccoon added. "She's fun."

Margaret smiled and leaned her head forward and down just enough to give Rigby a few small kisses on his head. Unlike other times in the past, he didn't feel the need to wipe them off, and actually enjoyed it. He quickly jumped up to her and gave her a quick one on the cheek in return, before resuming his position between the two of them.

"I guess I'm afraid," she continued, "that it's going to get worse before it gets any better."

Her face grew sullen. She was aware that things weren't always so perfect, and that at some point in this bizarre triangle, things might actually take a turn for the worse, and she didn't want that. She loved the feeling of being around these two crazy men. They made her feel special in a way that no other man has ever been able to make her feel. And if she could spend the rest of her days like this, then she could die a happy bird. But that lingering doubt persisted in the back of her mind, and caused her to constantly question the situation.

Mordecai looked on at her, as her face continued to grow worried and panicked over everything that was happening. She was right though, he thought. Everything seemed to be going so fast. He wasn't even sure what he was doing anymore, simply going along with whatever popped into his mind first. He didn't like that aspect of himself, because it was never something he did. But still, it ached him to see her worry like that.

The blue jay removed his wing from his neck and slumped it over the red robin. He pulled her in close, causing Rigby to be pulled in a little tighter. Not enough to hurt him though.

The bird began to rub his beak against that of his female counterpart.

"I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you," Mordecai said in his most romantic quality yet.

"Or you," he continued, looking down at Rigby, who gave him a smile in return. "Or us, for that matter."

Margaret gave a weak grin through it all. It warmed her knowing that Mordecai was so sure that this strange turn of events was going to work out somehow and that he knew exactly what he was doing. That's what she wanted to believe anyways.

In truth, she knew that Mordecai had no idea of what he was about to get himself into. Neither did she for that matter, but it was nice knowing that at least one of them was going to make an effort in preserving what had blossomed.

They all had to admit, though. The closeness they were feeling at the moment was indescribable. They thought long and hard about it, and all agreed that they hoped it would work somehow. Mordecai then began to scratch the back of his neck again.

* * *

Skips stepped out of elevator into the intensive care wing of the hospital. He had received a phone call an hour earlier stating that Benson had an aneurism of some sort that morning during a session with his therapist and had to be rushed to emergency care as soon as possible. Needless to say, Skips bolted there as fast as he could, using whatever voodoo magic and cart maneuvering skills he knew to get to the hospital the fastest.

He turned the corner, narrowly missing some residents who were conversing with the relatives of another patient. At the end of the hallway were some swing doors that no one besides hospital staff were allowed into. He crossed the barrier and was barraged with several nurses and doctors that asked him to leave. The yeti ignored them and continued his trek to Benson, pushing through all of them. He knew exactly where he was going. When you've been alive for a couple of hundreds of years, you notice places like hospitals tend to follow a predictable blue print.

As he turned another corner, he found himself in a sprawled out open room with several patients in stretchers being tended to. In front of one of those beds was the therapist that was in charge of Benson.

The human turned around and saw the yeti coming toward him. "Oh Skips," he said as he noticed the beast, "I was wondering if I could talk to you-"

"Not now," the yeti grimaced.

"-about things."

Skips then proceeded to grab a curtain surrounding the area by Benson's bed and enclose it around the two of them, leaving the skrink outside their tent. Skips looked out beyond the veil and watched the silhouettes of doctors and nurses speak with the therapist about the yeti's behavior and why he should leave. Skips was actually quite surprised to see the doctor defending his right to stay. None of that mattered though. All that mattered was making sure his coworker was okay.

He peered down at Benson, hoping to survey the damage on him, only to find his employer huddled under covers.

"You alright, Benson?" Skips asked in a monotone voice.

"That you Skips?" Benson asked back in a weak and gruff voice. "When did you get here?"

"Just now. What happened?"

He heard a tired sigh from under the blankets before anything was said. "I don't know. I saw something that didn't make sense, and heard something too I think… and then I just woke up here."

"Are you gonna be okay?" Skips continued to ask, his face slightly more sympathetic.

"I don't know," Benson answered. "Does this look bad?"

The gumball machine forced his head from out of the covers, revealing himself to the yeti. Skips jumped at first (which was a shock considering it was Skips) at the sight of Benson's face. Everything seemed fine with his body, but it was his face that was all wrong. The small crack he had last seen Benson with had spread all the way across his face, not to mention that several other cracks had formed and were beginning to spread all over his head. The yeti was sure he even saw some chipped areas and small holes here and there.

"Benson," Skips said with an actual horrified expression on his face. "What happened!"

"I don't know," was the only thing that came out of the weak man's mouth. He looked around the enclosed curtain area before continuing. "I think I may be dying?"

Skips approached the side of Benson's bed slowly, watching the sickly gumball machine closely. He observed every crack and chip on his head, and every expression that slid over his face. The white beast reached out his hand to touch Benson's shoulder, just to give him some comfort.

"Don't," Benson said, batting his hand away. "That might make it worse."

Skips continued to look at the person in front of him. This person didn't look anything like Benson, both physically and spiritually. He appeared defeated and broken. He looked as though he had lost something great and important, and had no chance at ever finding it again. This scared Skips surprisingly. He had been alive for so long, but so rarely did he ever get a chance to observe someone like this, especially with someone he considered a friend.

"Do you think I'm dying?" Benson asked, looking like he might start crying at any second. "Be honest."

The yeti stood there and thought about that question, long and hard. He didn't want to be truthful to him, as he so often was. Wasn't that the reason he was hired, for his honesty?

Skips let a small smile form over his face. "You ain't dying on my watch," he said with confidence. He hoped that it might transfer over to Benson.

It worked. Benson smiled, and that made them both feel a little better.

_Where Do We Draw the Line? – Poets of the Fall_

**Author's Notes**

I suppose this chapter is best described as a transition into the final arc of the story. These next couple of chapters are the important ones and will probably make or break my story with a lot of people. I hope you like bizarre things, but then again... if you're still reading, then you must really like those kinds of things. Hahaha! Anyways...

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	21. Glass of Water

**Chapter Twenty-One**

**Glass of Water**

Margaret looked out the living room window intently, hoping to find some sort of positive sign in all of this. When the female spied what she was looking for, she let out a relieved sigh and allowed a smile to form on her face.

"Oh good," she said turning to the boys on the couch, "I can see some grass. The snow is finally starting to melt."

Mordecai and Rigby didn't take a look just yet, since they were too busy fighting each other in the video game in front of them. It didn't help that neither of them were playing fair, first starting with the trash talk, then escalating into kicks and punchies against each other, to more playful things such as Rigby jumping on Mordecai's lap and seducing him with little kisses and suggestive hand gestures. Those tended to work usually, but it appeared Mordecai had the upper hand this time.

"Ohhhhhh," Mordecai let out in his trademark scream. "Beat you! Even when you were trying to get into my feathers."

Rigby looked at the TV screen to see Mordecai's player giving a victory pose before a score board popped up, adding up all his points.

"You know you liked it though," Rigby commented with a sly grin. "If we hadn't hadn't done some sexy time last night, my strategy would have so kicked your butt!"

"Even if we didn't have 'sexy' time last night I still would've wiped the floor with you."

"Nuh-uh," the raccoon argued. "I would have won, and you would've been all like, 'Rigby's the best! I like it when Rigby beats me! He puts up a good beating!'"

Mordecai began to chuckle at his friend. "Isn't that what you were saying about me last night in bed?" He winked at his best friend, hoping it would get a good reaction out of him.

"STOP TALKING AGAIN," Rigby screamed as a deep color of red appeared over his face. "THAT'S PRIVATE!"

The girl by the window groaned audibly at their little lover's quibble. "And while the subject of your two's sex life is fascinating," Margaret interrupted, "especially in public with people still in the house who can hear us, I would like to add that the snow is melting."

"What? Really!" Mordecai asked standing up. "So we can finally go outside?"

"I guess," Margaret added as she returned to look out the window. "I can see little patches of green sprouting up, so I think the winter storm's finally past."

That was the best news they had heard in a while. Everyone had been stuck inside most of the time between when the whole Walls-to-Walls thing and when the snow finally began to disappear on the present day. Sure, they still had to go out and do chores here and there, but it was mostly for park upkeep. Skips didn't want anyone staying out there for too long out of risk of hypothermia. So whenever the chores were done, it was right back into the house. This made everyone develop a case of cabin fever over the passing weeks.

The trio had found a way to shove off the effects of the fever, and that was nothing more than physical intimacy. It kept their minds off what was going on outside and how long they had been trapped in there. It was never usually together though. That was more reserved for spur of the moment acts of passion. Usually, it was whenever two of the trio were talking with each other and just so happened to be in the mood. It was mostly between Margaret and Mordecai, or Rigby and Mordecai. Though there were the occasional few times where Margaret and Rigby had actually fooled around when they both couldn't stand it any longer. Though most of it ended in laughter at the sheer thought of it all, they could both happily say that they enjoyed it, and would gladly do it again and again.

As for everyone else and their cabin fever: Pops had found himself doing strange things around the house that no one knew or understood why. Muscle Man had taken to strutting around the house naked every so often (though they weren't sure if that was cabin fever related or just who Muscle Man was), with the ghost concealing his junk in the process. And Skips was barely ever there any more it seemed like. He had been asked to accompany Benson on future therapy sessions and doctors visits, which were turning into nearly daily sessions due to Benson's diminishing condition, so everyone only saw him in the mornings when he would belt out orders and leave for the hospital. It was still shocking to everyone that Benson had been in the hospital for three weeks. May was here now, and if he wasn't out of the hospital by the time the summer months rolled around, the park was going to have issues.

"When do you think Benson will be back?" Margaret asked, changing the subject. She turned back around to look at the boys, but they were gone now. Her head shot back and forth across the room, looking for signs of their escape.

Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs suddenly as Mordecai and Rigby, dressed in winter clothes, crashed through the front door onto the porch.

"C'mon, Margaret," Rigby yelled outside, "snowball fight!"

The red bird stood there by herself for a few moments, feeling utterly ignored.

Her eye lids lowered slightly as a wave of annoyance swept over her. "Well gee, I don't know when Benson will be back, Margaret," she said to herself. "What do you think Margaret?"

"Well I hope, by the grace of Goddess Marceline, it'll be real soon," she answered herself. She sighed before heading up the stairs to collect her jacket.

* * *

The snow was beautiful. Rigby couldn't deny that. This was the kind of snow that the raccoon would and could play in all day everyday if he would and could. It was wet enough to pack together to make the ultimate snowball, or even the most sturdy of snow men. No more blizzard or falling snow made it so much easier to see, and he didn't have those pesky flakes pounding at his face so much. And melting snow was just so much easier to maneuver in. This was the kind of snow that the little raccoon loved.

"Hey Mordecai," he screamed, "heads up!"

The blue jay turned around right in time to get a snowball right in his face. He yelled in irritation as he tried to rub the snowy stuff off of his face.

"I'm gonna get you for that," the bird screamed back as he reached down and rolled some snow into his hand.

"You'll have to catch me first," Rigby shouted as he began to run away from his friend, collecting snow in the process for ammunition.

The two men started pelting each other one after another with snowballs and kicking up flakes and fragments of the ice toward each other. They laughed and smiled as they went along, enjoying their park filled with white. It surprised them that no patrons were at the park today. It was the perfect day to play in the snow. The temperature was slowly climbing back up, even though it was late in the day, so that made it even better.

Mordecai suddenly felt Rigby attach himself to his back, climbing up his spine and onto his shoulders. He had gotten used to his friend doing that more often, trying to get attention or love in the process. But he didn't trust his friend right now. No no, not when the snow was out and ready for use. Not when the temperature was just right and their energy was over eleven. Not when Rigby was at his most playful he had been in the longest of time.

And he was right too. The raccoon stood on top of Mordecai's shoulder with an arm full of snow, and dropped in right on top of the bird's head. Mordecai leaped at the sensation of the cold falling around him, and with Rigby already on him, caused both of them to fall onto the snowy ground. Mordecai toppled onto his back, feeling the snow collapse beneath him in an instant, cushioning his blow.

He sat up from the ground to hunt for his friend. He wanted to get revenge. But before he could find him though, he felt himself get pelted once again onto his back by a brown furry thing. He blinked a few times before realizing that Rigby had wrestled him back to the ground. The raccoon's arms were around his neck, and a content smile had appeared on his face. Mordecai returned the smile before placing his wings around his friend.

Rigby loved these moments more than anything. He had never got to experience a true romance before in his life, so this was a treat for him. Everything about romance in general felt new and different to him, dangerous almost, but at the same time, made him feel safe and warm, even on the cold ground of a cool day. It was a stunning experience that he never knew existed. If this was what a romantic style of love was supposed to feel like, he would have made more of an attempt to pursue his friend before Margaret could, especially if he had known in advance that Mordecai was going to reciprocate.

"You're a dork," Rigby said to him, "you know that?"

"Well you're a spaz," Mordecai defended himself.

"Well you're a geek!"

"You're a drillbit!"

"You're a ditz!"

"Well you're a hoser," the bird added.

"Well you're sexy," Rigby returned.

"Well you're," Mordecai said, stopping him self suddenly. "D-d-dude!"

Rigby let out a victorious laugh as he continued to cuddle up next to his friend on the ground.

Mordecai hadn't gotten used to Rigby saying things like that. He had been so used to calling him stupid insults and just being a friendly friend (was that even a phrase?), that he had no idea how to react when Rigby went and did something like that. Hell, he nearly had a heart attack when the raccoon seduced him for the first time a few weeks earlier. This kind of stuff still put him on edge, especially around Margaret. The last thing he wanted was to make Margaret jealous.

"You know dude," the blue jay began, "you shouldn't stay stuff like that out in public."

Rigby picked himself up off Mordecai for a moment to look around the park. No one was in site of the two men. "Bro, there's no one around."

"Yeah, I know," Mordecai said unconvincingly. "I'm just saying."

Rigby fell back down onto his friend's chest, and tried to listen for a heart beat. He loved that sound, when he was all cuddled up next to him, his ear on his chest, listening to the beating of the bird's heart like a lullaby. It had put him to sleep a few times before. The raccoon found it to be one of the most relaxing experiences of his life.

"Hey Mordecai," Rigby said, "can I ask you a question?"

Mordecai took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to clear his mind of any bad thoughts. "Sure dude. What's up?"

"When the snow melts, and we go off and do stuff together… outside the park I mean. Like on a date? Ummm…"

The blue jay looked at his friend curiously. This seemed to be a question that he was having trouble asking. Mordecai smiled at the thought of Rigby being the shy one for a change.

"Would you like," the raccoon continued shyly, "let me hold you hand… and kiss you and ummm… you know... do couple stuff?"

That was a question Mordecai had never thought about. Public displays of affection with Rigby, who was a guy, and his best friend, and that everyone could see? That unnerved the avian a little bit. What would other people think of that? Could they go around the streets like a regular couple, with no issue? God knows if Muscle Man and High Five Ghost were any indication of the normal citizen of this fair city, it could be a problem. Still, he needed to think of something to tell Rigby, and fast.

"Well… sure," he told Rigby, "but only if we were… together together. Like officially together."

Rigby picked himself up off his lover's chest again to look down at the bird face to face. "Wait, wait. So we're not together now?"

"No no, we're together now," Mordecai defended as he scratched the back of his neck, "just not together together."

"Together tog-" Rigby started, an agitation in his belly growing. "So we're not an actual couple, is that it!"

Mordecai sat up from the ground, causing the small animal on him to tumble to the snow. He quickly brought up his wings to try and calm his friend down. "That's now what I mean dude! I mean to say that we're not officially a couple."

"How are we not officially a couple?" Rigby asked. "We've been doing all the stuff couples do!"

"I know, I know dude. Believe me, I know… but."

"I'll bet if I had lady pecs you wouldn't be saying that. Red feathers too!"

"Dude, that's not it at all," Mordecai continued to argue. A look of worry was coming over his face as he failed in his defense.

"Uh oh," came a feminine voice from behind. "I hear myself being described."

Margaret approached the two men in her jacket with a smile on her face and an off key song in her heart. She observed the two arguing and assumed it was a lovers spat.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing. Rigby and I were just-"

"Mordecai says that he and I aren't officially a couple," the small man interrupted.

"Well why is that?" Margaret asked.

"Because I'm not yooooooooou," the raccoon exclaimed in a whining voice.

"That's not it at all," Mordecai said to the both of them, "really it's not!"

"Then what is it?" Margaret continued to barrage with questions.

Mordecai let out a grunt and began to shoot his gaze back and forth to the red robin and the raccoon. "I just think it's weird that… people would see me with… another dude. Like they would be saying, 'dude, that dude is with a dude, dude.'"

His outbursts weren't making any sense again. It was the usual strategy the blue jay had when he was nervous or backed into a corner.

The girl rolled her eyes at him. "Well who cares what other people think," Margaret reasoned. "They're not you. I mean you don't care when you're holding my hand in public do you?"

"Yeah but," Mordecai started, "that's norm-"

"If you value what you have with Rigby," she stopped him with a frown forming on her face, "don't finish that sentence."

The blue jay looked at her for a moment before turning his gaze away, feeling a little shamed for what he would have said. His glance turned to Rigby who wasn't looking the most friendly of people at that moment.

"Sorry Rigby," Mordecai whispered audible, "I'm not used to this yet."

"Well you're the one who really wanted to try this," Margaret said. "You need to get used to this kind of stuff quick. I mean, what are you gonna do if Rigby and I want to do some PDA with you at the same time?"

Mordecai hadn't thought about that part either. He had only been worried about his relationship with Rigby in public, and not all of them as a whole. That just made him feel worse than before

She was right though. Mordecai was the one who had really wanted to enter into this strange three-way relationship. Rigby and Margaret were supportive of it, but knew that it might not end well. Of course, there was always a chance that they could be wrong.

"Don't worry about it," Margaret said with comfort as she knelt down and began to rub the blue jay's neck. "We can always just cross that bridge when we get there."

Mordecai gave the red robin a small smile and nodded to her. She smiled back and leaned over to give him a kiss on the forehead.

She began to pick herself up, removing her wing from the back of the bird's neck, only to find it stuck in place for a second before finally coming undone.

"Well that was weird," she commented. "I think my hand froze to the back your neck there for a second."

Mordecai put his hand over the back of his neck to check something. It didn't stick, nor did it feel cold to the touch. He pulled back his hand, looking at it before looking at Margaret and shrugging.

"Weird," he said.

"Well you're just a weird person overall aren't you?" she asked him with a reassuring grin.

"Maybe just a little," Mordecai answered with a blush.

"How about a lot?" Rigby chimed in as he punched his friend's shoulder. It didn't hurt. "I mean, what kind of person dates a girl and a guy at the same time?"

"This person, apparently," Margaret joked as she pointed to Mordecai with her thumb.

The robin and raccoon laughed at Mordecai for a moment jokingly before picking him up and returning to their early evening of fun. Mordecai laughed along with them, but he didn't mean it. Actually, it hurt him the more he thought about it.

* * *

"You think he's alright with this?" Rigby asked Margaret as he laid back against the red robin in bed.

"Are WE even alright with what's going on between the three of us right now?" she asked him back as she turned the page of her magazine.

"I don't know," Rigby answered as he tried to follow along with what was on the page in front of him. "Why are you asking me?"

"I don't know," Margaret mimicked. "Why are you asking me?"

Neither of them got an answer and simply rolled with it. Rigby sighed and tried to piece together what magazine Margaret was reading in front of her. It was something about music and heartthrobs and this and that gossip. He couldn't get into it. He just leaned back into the girl's t-shirt and resumed his period of relaxation using her as a proper bed.

"You know I'm sitting right here you two," Mordecai commented to Margaret, whom was using the blue jay as a bed herself. "I can hear both of you."

"And we're still worried about you," the robin smirked as she turned another page of the magazine. She snuggled her back into the bird's chest and enjoyed the feeling of his arms wrapped around her neck softly. "Are we not allowed to worry about you now?"

Mordecai scratched at the back of his neck, before sighing and donning a small smile. "That's okay, I guess. But you guys shouldn't be worried about me. Why would you be?"

Both Rigby and Margaret turned their heads up to look at the bird. They both raised an eyebrow in disbelief that the blue jay might have already forgotten, or chose to forget everything that happened.

"I don't know," Rigby said sarcastically. "Maybe it's because you went ballistic after we admitted everything to you and ran off to find a new job and abandon us."

"I had a lot on my mind," Mordecai defended.

"Yeah but it still hurt us with what you did," Margaret added. "In fact…" She then turned herself half way around, rolled up her magazine, and delivered a swift blow to the taller man's head, causing him to flinch from minor pain. The blue jay snatched the paper weapon from out of her hand and tossed it off the bed. Margaret let out an amused laugh before turning back a moment later and resuming her relaxation into her boyfriend.

"You can't keep doing that forever," Mordecai said as he rubbed his forehead to ease the pain.

"I know," Margaret laughed, "but it's still funny no matter how many times I do it."

"No it's not," the blue bird continued to bemoan.

"Hey I think it's pretty dang funny," Rigby attached to Margaret's comment.

"Yeah," Mordecai started as a smile started to form, "says the guy who loses to everyone at punchies."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Margaret chimed in. "How is that bruise I gave you a few days ago? Is it still purple?"

"No, it's not still purple," Rigby snarked angrily. The bruise in question on the flesh of his shoulder was no longer purple, but had evolved into a painful black. It hurt every time he brought his arm up.

Mordecai and Margaret laughed at the raccoon, causing his cheeks to puff up and his eyes to grow angry. He stood up from Margaret and turned to meet their gaze.

"Awww," Margaret said, "look at that face."

"It's a face only a mother could love," Mordecai added on with a grin.

Rigby clenched his fists together and was about to start a punchie match with some birds. He wondered if maybe he could still perform the death punch from long ago.

"Well," the robin continued, "and us too."

She leaned forward and took the raccoon into her arms, hugging him tight. He struggled at first, as he usually did, but feeling that familiar warmth and glow surrounding him, submitted to the embrace and began to enjoy it. He felt a second pair of wings bound him, and smiled as he noticed the blue feathers had joined in on the hug. The childish anger inside him faded, replaced with a sense of joy.

"Dude, you're so easy to please," Mordecai said as he tightened his hold on both Rigby and Margaret.

"He's not the only one," Margaret said as she titled her head against the muzzle of the blue jay.

He gulped as her beak rubbed up against him. One of her wings left the embrace around the raccoon and skulked up the tall man's cheek, cupping it into her palm. Mordecai could feel a warm shiver down his spine, as he knew what was coming up.

"Right now?" He asked with an unending anticipation growing within him.

"Maaaaaaybe," she said in a painfully seductive tone.

Her tongue began to flick across his neck, an area that both Margaret and Rigby discovered was an extremely powerful turn on point for the blue jay. He quivered and moaned as she caressed and dug into the neck with her mouth and hand.

Margaret looked down and Rigby, who was looking up at her eagerly.

She ceased her touch on the bird and started to back away from him. "Alright, Rigby. He's all yours."

Mordecai blinked, unsure of what just happened, but was tackled onto his back a second later by his raccoon lover for the second time that day. Rigby began to continue where Margaret had left off, kissing and feeling the area around his neck and collar.

"He..hey," Mordecai let out, trying to control himself of the feeling, "what about you, Margaret?"

"Rigby and I already talked about," she said with a coy smile. "I wanna watch this time. Besides, I think you and I go at it more than you and Rigby, so I decided to let the little guy have his fun this time."

Watch? She wanted to watch, and not participate? How does that work? Was this just some sort of sick theater game to her? Didn't the time they spent together mean anything to her? Mordecai thought all these things as Rigby continued to assault him with his mouth, eventually falling into an open mouth kiss with the raccoon. Those questions didn't seem to matter as much when your libido was high as a kite.

Mordecai clawed and gripped at fur like he did so many times before, trying to find that one place that would send a moan out of his friend's mouth. What was that mystery area of the day? He tried the neck, but only got little laughs. He tried the back, but didn't get as much as a grunt. He tried a leg or a foot, and only received a cocked eyebrow. This was annoying. Rigby knew all the right places to get Mordecai off, but he couldn't find anything to help Rigby along, save for a full on attack downstairs.

Still, he decided to try something. He released his mouth from Rigby's and began to kiss his way to the back of Rigby's head. There was a place there where the neck met the spine that he had an inkling that might do it. It worked, as he began to kiss and prod his tongue into the raccoon's flesh, receiving rewards of moans and groans. Mordecai continued to do this, enjoying the sounds that were escaping his friend's mouth. They made him happy to hear them.

He rested his head and beak onto the raccoon's back, content with his success. He smiled as he could feel the raccoon's warm fur up against his belly. The bird felt his raccoon friend shuffle slightly underneath him. Mordecai wondered what he was up to. It didn't take him long when he felt the raccoon's mouth playfully bite into the bird's belly.

"Already?" Mordecai coughed out as a slightly aching shock of pleasure pulsed through his body, emanating from his crotch. "No more kissing?"

The bird clenched at the raccoon's fur as he felt teeth nibble happily into the flesh of the bird osftly. The smile on Mordecai's face was wiped suddenly when Rigby bit down a bit too hard. His expression changed to that of one of pain, which could be ironic, considering he was feeling little volts of excitement flow up his body. Mordecai closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling as his friend nibbled, licked, and bit at his body, allowing him self to gasp and moan when they just wouldn't stay inside him. It was definitely something new that Rigby hadn't tried before. Though Mordecai couldn't help but selfishly wonder why Rigby never explored downtown with anything other than his hand, even when they had had their first time.

He opened his eyes and looked ahead of him to see Margaret staring at the two of them. A blissful look was all over her face as she watched the two of them in the moment.

"Don't give me that look," Mordecai told her.

"What look?" she asked with the same look of anticipation on her face.

"They look of, AH," he gasped loudly as he felt Rigby's paw made way for his groin. "That look… that look like you're enjoying this more than I am."

"Well maybe I am," she said in a playful tone. "Aren't you?"

He felt that damn itch on the back of his neck again. And no matter the amount of scratching, it wouldn't stop itching. So he ignored, and continued to act as someone that wasn't himself.

_Glass of Water – Cold Play_

**Author's Notes**

Filler filler filler! That's pretty much what this chapter boils down to. It only slightly forwards the story, and is mostly just used as an excuse to show off the trio's relationship. I didn't particularly like writing it, but I didn't hate it either. I'll make it up to you all in the next one. That'll be the one where the plot moves forward finally.

_So Until Next Chapter..._

_Adieu..._


	22. Unstability

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

**Unstability**

Mordecai stared deeply into the bathroom mirror and made an attempt to examine him self. What was it that made him so special to those two? He had everything that (mostly) everyone else had: two eyes, two legs, two arms, a mouth, a nose, two ears, though those were hidden behind feathers. He was a light shade of blue with pearl white feathers stretching from his face down to his belly. A couple of darker stripes lined here and there for a better emphasis on his color too.

What else was there? His voice? It was kind of gruff around the edges, and a little high too, but nothing that stood out particularly. Mannerisms didn't seem like too big of a deal either. He just liked to be a little random sometimes, but unlike his friend, at least he looked before he leapt, most of the time anyways. When his anger and jealousy got the better of him, he would explode and cause all sorts of turmoil for everyone. He found that one out the hard way only just recently.

Still, what was it that attracted the two lovers to him?

Mordecai flinched suddenly as another itch attacked the back of his neck. He scratch it again, trying to get the annoying sensation to cease or at least calm down a little bit. A couple of scratches with his wing later, and it was soothed. His thoughts returned to the image in the mirror.

Maybe it was his personality that did it. He did have a pretty good sense of humor about life and he always seemed to be a caring person overall, if not a little oblivious to the world around him. Once again, he found that part out the hard way. He had decided to try and be a little more perceptive in the future. Maybe try and look at the big picture around him instead of what was closer and familiar.

He smiled at the simple thoughts of himself, Rigby, and Margaret happily together. There were a few holes here and there that made the bird grimace angrily, but everything seemed to be working out for the better lately. Nobody felt left out of anything, everyone was happy, and life just seemed to be going smoothly for everyone.

Mordecai had got what he wanted finally. He had got the girl of his dreams after toiling day after day to impress her and get her to notice him. Sure, she was just as vapid as he was when it came to the up take, but when she came around at long last, everything fit into place like it was supposed to. And he was right about everything he had imagined about her. Sure she had some baggage with her, but didn't everyone? Everything worked out just nicely with her.

As an added bonus, he got an additional package just for ordering. It was the strangest feeling going from best of friends with someone to being lovers with them in such a short amount of time. Rigby was just an added surprise to the mix. It was strange at first, especially with the raccoon being male, but the more time Mordecai spent with him, the more it just seemed like they connected. He truly was falling for his friend.

Hell, he was falling for both of them as each day went on. It was the perfect situation. He got everything he ever wanted and more. The blue jay wondered why more people didn't do this. You could have your best friend and your crush all in the same package and everyone's happy. It was completely win-win.

The itch came back to him again, causing him to claw at the back of his neck for relief. Broken feathers began to fall from the area as he lashed out it. He must have been allergic to something if this had been going on for so long.

"Stop itching," Mordecai grunted unhappily as he continued to scratch. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

A knock came from outside the bathroom door.

"Mordecai?" a female voice asked. "Are you alright in there?"

He stopped his wings from their offense and looked toward the door. "I'm fine. Just having a minor problem."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," he lied, "I'll be right down, okay?"

"Alright. We're all waiting for you downstairs whenever you're ready. Try and hurry up though. Rigby's getting impatient."

Mordecai smiled. He didn't want to worry Margaret and Rigby more than they already were about him. They still thought he was in the middle of a break down, and things hadn't quite gotten back to normal yet. But he was calm and collected through everything they had been through. Everything seemed just fine at the moment. Just fine. Just fine. Just fine.

He waited for her footsteps to disappear before resuming his attack on the back of his neck. It was too annoying to let go. He had been losing sleep recently cause of this itch and he wanted it to stop. He started to think that maybe he should go to the drug store sometime that day and pick up some lotion or something.

Both wings began to scratch feverishly at the pain in his neck, bringing Mordecai to his knees in process as he continued the onslaught. After a few moments of nothing happening, he stopped and relented to the itching on his neck. When brought his wings back to him however, he found them covered in his own blood. He stood back up and panicked, taking a look at himself in the mirror again. Mordecai looked down at his bloodied wings both in front of him and in the reflection. He turned his body around the best he could to get a good look at the back of his body in the mirror. Sure enough in the corner of his sight, a few trails of blood had trickled their way down his spine and had stopped just short of his tail feathers. His neck looked a mess. There was definitely something wrong with him. He covered the gash on his neck up with his bloodied wings, trying to find the best way to cover it up.

Maybe a scarf could do the trick. He was on his way to the hospital anyways. Benson was anxious for visitors, and he'd be damned if he didn't get any today.

* * *

"You're looking in excellent spirits today, my good man," Pops cried.

"At least your cracks have stopped spreading…," Skips said.

"I hope you're feeling better Benson. Rigby thinks so too," Margaret commented.

"What? Yeah, I guess I do," Rigby moaned.

"You know who can help ya feel better?" Muscle Man asked.

"Tee-hee," High Five Ghost laughed.

"If you say your mom, I'm gonna to jump out of this bed and beat you," Benson said as he eyed Muscle Man with an annoyed expression.

The green man smiled confidently as he opened his mouth to say it. He didn't even get a word out before Benson jumped from the bed onto him, ready to beat the stuffing out of Muscle Man. His IV drip shook and rattled as each fist came down upon the stout human. Skips leaped forward and restrained the gumball machine from hurting the large man any more than he had already, and hopefully avoiding a lawsuit, though everyone was sure that the overweight man and his ghostly friend didn't even know what the word meant.

"Get out of my room," Benson screamed at the two of them, causing a nearby nurse to escort them out. As soon as they left the room the group heard the woman slap Muscle Man, probably for some off hand comment he made to her.

"Sorry guys," the sickly man said as he crawled back into bed. "I got a lot of pent up frustration cause I'm still cooped up here and not working on getting the park fixed up."

"Don't worry about that," Skips said with a neutral face, "I got that taken care of."

"You're with me most of time though," Benson added, "and I don't trust anybody else here with the chores."

He glared at everyone in the room, hoping to instill some sort of fear into their minds. It didn't work sadly as his broken demeanor made it difficult to strike fear in anyones hearts.

Everyone looked at the gumball machine and were in shock by how awful he looked. He let out a tired sigh before scratching at the bandages on his head. They had covered a good portion of the round glassy area, as well as covering one his eyes in the process and part of his mouth. His nose and other eye though were still intact at least. His body seemed to be chipping paint, which was an indicator that he wasn't keeping up with his usual self maintenance which might have contributed more to the hospital and not of his own free will.

The group glanced at each other every so often, pondering if the gumball machine was going to be alright or not. Benson was afraid he might be dying, even though the doctors claim he wasn't. They still clung to hope that it's just an advanced case of Missing Gumball Syndrome and that they are trying to find clues to fixing it. Everyone was concerned, except Mordecai.

He stood in the corner of the room, his arms crossed and his head down in thought. He had donned a green scarf to cover up what he had done to himself earlier, and was waiting for Benson's physician to make an appearance so he could ask him his opinion, but didn't really want to do it in front of everyone else. The blue jay was still worried about making his lovers nervous and panicked. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

"What about you?" Bensons asked from across the room.

Mordecai's gaze looked up to him. "What about me?" he asked almost feeling a little bad that he wasn't trying to help Benson feel better.

"Are you doing all your work?"

"Yeah," Mordecai commented quickly. "It's going… good."

Benson didn't believe him. The look on the blue jays face explained it all. He was worried about something, and he wasn't telling anyone else about it. Benson knew well enough that there was always something going on with Mordecai, Rigby, and every so often, Margaret.

"Why are you wearing a scarf?" the candy man asked him.

"I was wondering that myself," Margaret said out loud.

"Yeah bro," Rigby chimed in, "it's like sixty something degrees out there. Why are you wearing that thing? It makes you look fugly."

Margaret gave Rigby a quick slap across the head, causing him to complain to her before turning his attention back to his best friend.

"Well," Mordecai started, his mind scrambling for a proper excuse. "The thing is-"

"My my," a man said at the door way leading into the room, "full house today."

The doctor who had diagnosed Benson a few weeks earlier walked swiftly into the room with a smile on his face. The therapist who had been working with the gumball machine appeared a few steps behind him.

"What's the occasion?" the doctor asked them.

"It looks like a family visit to me," the therapist said in a snarky tone, causing Benson to grimace at him. "Don't think you're the first patient to give me that look, and don't think you'll be the last either."

The doctor approached Benson with his clipboard already out, ready to take notes on his daily health. The therapist, however, stopped half way on his trek to stop and gaze at the red robin in the room.

"Well hello," he said in a suave manner approaching Margaret, "and who is this fine young specimen?"

Margaret looked to the side of her and behind her to see if he was talking about someone else. She blushed deeply when she realized he was implying it was her. "Oh, my name is Margaret," she said as she extended her wing, "nice to meet you. And you are…?"

The man quickly took her wing and kissed the top of it. "Dr. Martin Ploddevize. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh god," the doctor next to Benson groaned as he listened to Martin. "Here we go again…"

"You are an exceptionally well crafted woman," the therapist continued, her wing still in his hand.

"Th-thanks," she said with her blush growing brighter.

"Perhaps after I finish my rounds with my associate here, you and I could get to know each other a bit better," he winked.

"HEY," screamed the voices of a raccoon and a blue jay as they watched the man hit on their girl. They both suddenly appeared in front of the man, breaking his hold on the girls hand and causing him to back away a few steps.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Martin yelled, "what is this?"

"Sorry," Margaret said as she felt a raccoon start to climb up to her shoulder. "I guess my boys don't approve of you."

"Your 'boys'?" the therapist questioned. "What are you, dating both of them? No wait," he stopped bringing his hands up in front of him. "I don't want to know."

And with that, he turned on his heel and approached Benson.

"Serves you right," the doctor smirked at his cohort.

"Zip it, Howard."

The doctors began their study on the gumball machine while the trio recovered from that strange event.

"Jealous?" Margaret teased as she took turns looking at the boys.

"NO," they both yelled.

"Just, don't want anything to happen to you," Mordecai added.

"And how many times have I told you already?" she commented. "I can take care of myself."

Mordecai looked away in embarrassment. The robin sighed at him and looked to her shoulder. "I'm actually surprised at you, Rigby," she said with a smile. "When did you start getting all defensive about me?"

The raccoon looked away from her as well with a blush and a discontent look about his face. Margaret smiled as she came to the conclusion that Rigby was actually starting to really like her in that way. It made her happy. She looked back over at Mordecai who was busy scratching the back of his neck under his scarf.

She frowned at him and pulled the scarf away from his neck. "What is under there that you have to-"

She let out a quick shriek as she observed what was under the piece of cloth. Rigby stumbled off her shoulder due to her sudden outburst, making him fall to the ground. Everyone looked her way and then to Mordecai whom she was gawking at. The blue jay looked around shyly at everyone, wondering what had just happened. When he realized that his scarf was missing, he shot his wings to the back of his neck. The doctors saw just enough of it to know something was wrong.

"What the hell?" the physician said as he pried himself away from Benson and trotted over to Mordecai. He grabbed the back of Mordecai's shoulders and turned him around to get a better view of the gash.

"Move your hands please," he requested of the bird.

Knowing if he didn't listen to the doctor, he would get attacked by nurses, Mordecai submitted to him and let his wings fall to his side.

"Oh my God," the doctor grimaced, pulling his hands away from Mordecai.

The injury that the bird had caused upon himself had grown to at least the size of a quarter in diameter. Little cuts and gashes sprang around the edges, showing that it had been tampered with. The doctor looked into the center of the injury. There was nothing. No scab forming, no blood flow, no nothing; just an empty void with a light swirl of purple nebula and red stars. The doctor gently touched his finger against the side feathers, only to make a small bit of them break off and fall into the void.

"Martin," he said with a seriously concerned look on his face to his associate. "You might wanna look at this."

Suddenly everyone was interested in what was going on with the back of Mordecai's neck.

"What did the idiot do to himself this time?" Benson asked as he crossed his arms.

The therapist walked over to the blue jay slowly, curious as to why his opinion was needed. His field was mental and psychological with a little bit of pharmaceutical added in. When he saw the void on the bird's neck, he grabbed Mordecai by the hand and dragged him out of the room without so much as a question.

"Wait," Rigby yelled, "where are you taking Mordecai?"

"To my office," Martin yelled as they left.

Rigby scattered on the floor and quickly followed them out the door. Margaret began to walk along as well, but was stopped by the doctor still in the room.

"It might be wise to let him go for now," he told her. "Dr. Ploddevize is pretty... uh... somewhat respected in his field, so you shouldn't need to worry."

Margaret eyed the doctor and then the door leading out into the hallway. She thought that maybe she should go anyways, or at least go grab Rigby, but stopped herself.

"Besides," the doctor continued, "I need you here for an experiment."

"Experiment?" Benson repeated, knowing full well that involved him self. "What kind of experiment?"

The doctor smiled and approached Benson's bed again. He reached his hand and clutched the gumball machine's knob, turning it a few times and allowing some gumballs to fall out. Benson gasped as each one passed through his system, feeling slightly shamed to have everyone watch that.

"Alright," the doctor said smiling, "everyone grab a gumball!"

* * *

Martin continued to pull Mordecai through a labyrinth of hallways and doorways, saying random things to the nurses and doctors along the way. The blue jay had no idea where he was being taken or for what reason. All he knew was that the back of his neck must have been something serious, otherwise, no one would have made such a big deal about it.

Mordecai glanced behind himself and noticed Rigby on all fours doing his best to keep up with the two of them. He was happy to see that his friend was worried enough about him to see what was happening. Where was Margaret though? Shouldn't she have come along with him as well?

His neck suddenly erupted into an itching discomfort that bordered on pain. He let out a hurt gasp and brought up his free wing to scratch. It relieved it to an extent, but the more he poked and prodded at it, the more he could feel little pieces of himself snapping off and falling in. And the idea behind that actually scared him a little bit.

He blinked and found himself inside an office, his arm was let go and he was pushed onto a couch. The therapist then quickly ran to the door, closed it, and locked it up tight. A thud came from the other side of the door a moment later when Rigby ran right into it.

"I wouldn't worry about him interrupting us," Martin said looking at the door. "It's a pretty sturdy sound proof door. Makes my sessions a lot easier."

The therapist shifted his glance to Mordecai, who was giving him a confused look.

"I hope your boss gives you guys workman's comp," he continued. "Otherwise this session is gonna cost you a wing and a leg. Hmmm… chicken sounds good for dinner actually."

He smiled at the bird and began to walk over to his desk. "I'm just kidding… about the charging you part anyways. I'm still getting some chicken on the way home tonight."

"Why am I here?" Mordecai finally asked him.

"Because you have a vortex on the back of your neck," Martin answered as he sat down in his desk chair. "Do you know what that means?"

"A vortex?"

The human nodded to him. "Vortex, black hole, infinite vacuum, whatever you wanna call it."

"Why do I have a vortex on the back of my neck?"

"Well," the therapist began, "it could be a lot of things: stress, exhaustion, trouble at home or work, social issues, topical issues, blah blah blah, stuff like that."

This was all news to Mordecai. He had never heard of people sprouting vortexes on their bodies.

"We usually just prescribe some valium or lithium and see if that does anything. Usually, that does the trick. Most vortexes I've dealt with only last from about 48 hours to upwards to a week."

Mordecai was still trying to wrap his head around all of this. "Let me get this straight," the bird started, "people get stuff like this on their bodies all the time?"

"Usually under the skin," Martin continued, "caused on by depression or stress. Those tend to be the most common causes. Your body is essentially eating itself up, but the vortex is never strong enough to actually pull anything in. Overtime, we come to terms with our problems and the vortex seals itself up. This is all stuff they teach you in basic high school psychology class."

"I never took that," Mordecai said with a half hearted grin.

"Of course you didn't," Martin responded with slight scorn in his voice.

Mordecai wasn't liking the tone in his voice. He started feeling sorry for Benson if he had to deal with this guy on a nearly daily basis.

"Your vortex, however," the psychiatrist began again, "is on the outside of your body, which isn't particularly unusual, but it's still not common. Your body is trying to tell you something."

"My body?"

"Our bodies have an opinion of us too you know. I've seen people lose their bodies for stupid reasons and have to adopt a new one because they couldn't figure out how to live with their original bodies, even if it is second nature."

"So my body is rejecting me?"

Mordecai thought for a moment about that. He remembered Rigby's body rejecting him and shooting out his mind and personality into a green glob. Was that what was happening to him?

"Not really," the doctor said with a straight face. "Actually, it's the other way around. Your body's not rejecting you. It's rejecting everything else around it."

"What?" Mordecai coughed. "That doesn't make any sense. How does someone's body reject everything around it?"

"I don't know," the therapist sighed. "It doesn't make a lick of sense honestly, but neither does a talking gumball machine, a blue jay taller than a raccoon, and a voodoo and holistic magic using yeti."

Mordecai couldn't argue with that. Still didn't stop him from feeling annoyed about the whole thing though.

"Tell me something ummmm…" Martin started, unsure of what to call this person.

"Mordecai," the bird said angrily.

"Right, Mordecai. Tell me something Mordecai. Has anything big been happening to you the past few weeks? Like anything that was beyond your control, or that you just couldn't handle?"

The tall bird stared down the human and lied.

"No."

"You're lying."

Well that didn't work out so well.

"I said no."

"And I said you're lying."

"How do you know?" Mordecai smirked.

"That would be because I deal with crazy people inside and out, everyday of my life, 24/7, 364 days a year. I know when a person is lying, believe me."

"Well that doesn't mean you're the end all, be all lie detector… wait, 364 days?"

Martin shrugged at the bird. "Well I'm not working on my birthday, am I?"

Now this was just getting ridiculous. Was this guy even certified? The degrees and plaques on the wall seemed to say so. Mordecai still didn't like it.

"But enough about me," the human continued, "I wanna know more about you."

"Why should I tell you?" Mordecai lashed out at him. "You can't make me."

Martin thought about it for a moment and nodded to him. "You're right," he answered as he picked up a stray penny from his desk and began to flip it with one hand. "I can't force you to say anything. But unless that thing is taken care of, it will grow. And the bigger it gets the worse your life is going to become."

He flicked the penny right at Mordecai's neck, barely missing him and zooming past his head. The blue jay was about to complain until, he felt some cold and metallic enter the back of his neck. He could only assume that it was penny.

"Unless you fix this," the man went on, "that thing is going to take out everything around you probably within a hundred foot radius. The world record, last I checked, was a little over two miles. Oh and then it'll suck you up too."

"Wait," Mordecai stopped him. "Suck ME up?"

"Yeah, like a black hole. You'll implode in on yourself I should probably say. I think that's a better term. Might be painful, I don't know. I've never personally seen one."

"And when you mean it'll take out everything around me…?"

"The thing about the style of vortex that's on the back of your neck is that it's very selective about what it takes in. I mean my office is still intact so I doubt you care about me. Though that penny… having money issues lately?"

When does he never, Mordecai thought. But this vortex... it's selective? "What's that supposed to mean?" Mordecai thought to himself. "I'm going to suck everything up around me?" That had to be the most outlandish and surreal thing he had ever heard of. Then he remembered the unicorns, and the time traveling, and the vines, and prank caller, and everything else between. He realized just how strange and unusual his regular life was. Not to mention all the stuff that had been going on with Margaret and Rigby.

A loud thud erupted from behind the office door suddenly. Both Mordecai and Martin looked at the door to see it shake from the sound. The thud came again and again, in successive intervals.

The therapist pushed a button on the phone lying on his desk. "Ms. Truant," he said nonchalantly, "may I ask what is going on out there?"

A shrill female voice spoke out of the speaker on the phone a second later. "There's this crazy little raccoon person ramming into the door over and over."

Rigby, Mordecai thought. What was he doing? The sounds of the raccoon's grunts and screams could be heard in the background of the nurse. Mordecai heard his name and flinched. Another piece of him self fell into the void a second later.

Martin noticed the adverse reaction and eyed the bird carefully. "Are you alright?" he asked him curiously.

Mordecai didn't say anything. He just kept listening to the sound of his friend ramming into the door, and his muffled yells coming from the phone. Rigby shouldn't be doing this. He should be back in the hospital room with everyone else making sure Benson is having an at least half way enjoyable visit. Instead, the raccoon was too concerned with his blue jay love and was doing his best to break the door down. Why did the raccoon have to be so meddlesome all the time? Sometimes Mordecai just wanted to kill Rigby in the most painful way possible.

"Tell me about him."

Mordecai took a gulp. His breathing began to pick up the pace as he listened to the sounds behind the door. What was Rigby trying to prove?

"Or what about Margaret? You seemed to be pretty protective of her."

Why would he bring up Margaret now? She hasn't done anything wrong. She wasn't the cause of all this mayhem. The red robin was just another person in Mordecai's life that he had a powerful connection with. Sure he wanted to strangle her for leading him on for so long and breaking his heart, but it all worked out in the end. Right? It was still no reason to bring her up.

"Or what about both of them? Maybe I wasn't so off the mark with my statement about the three of you earlier…"

The bird twitched again and felt a large piece of him fall away into his neck. Something new happened this time though; the sound of a light wind began to blow through out the office. All of it coming from the back of the blue jay's neck.

"That," the therapist started, "doesn't sound good..."

Mordecai stood up from his seat and immediately bolted out of the office without a moment's hesitation.

"I think I found his hot spot," Martin finished as he looked on in silence as the taller male ran out of his office.

_Unstability – Hidenobu Ito_

_

* * *

_

_Sometimes I forget how to stop worrying..._

_Adieu..._


	23. Mosquito Repellent

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

**Mosquito Repellent**

Rigby couldn't take sitting there and waiting for very long. Whatever was going on in that room wasn't good. That man was a quack, and Rigby knew just how much Mordecai hated being probed and prodded with questions about his life. Mordecai was unstable; Rigby knew it, Margaret knew it, that doc knew it, everyone knew it. The last thing the raccoon wanted to see was Mordecai in any more pain. These past few weeks bared enough of that.

"Mordecai," he screamed as he rammed against the door. No budge though, so he decided to ram it again. Why did these hospitals have to be built like tanks? He continued to ram against the door in hopes of release.

"Ms. Truant," came a voice from nowhere, "may I ask what is going on out there?"

The female secretary from behind a desk quickly pressed the respond button. "There's this crazy little raccoon person ramming into the door over and over."

Rigby ignored the discussion and continued against the door. He wanted to protect Mordecai this time. He didn't want to see that pained expression anymore.

Right as Rigby was rushing toward the door again, it swung open hitting him in the face and sending him to the ground. A blue blur ran past him. Knowing full well who it was that had vacated the premises, Rigby jumped onto all fours and sprinted to catch up with Mordecai.

"Mordecai, wait," Rigby screamed as he chased after him. These hospitals had the trickiest twists and turns that the little animal had ever seen. He was already feeling himself out of breath. Thankfully, the blue jay stopped in front of an elevator, giving the animal a chance to catch up. Rigby called out to his friend again in hopes that he would hear him. He did.

"Rigby," Mordecai started, taking a few steps away. "You… you… uh…"

The raccoon stopped in front of his friend and looked up at him with care in his eyes. Something was definitely wrong. Mordecai was stumbling with his speech, and he was covering up the back of his neck for some reason.

"Bro, what's wrong?" Rigby asked him.

"Look dude," Mordecai said, "you and Margaret need to stay away from me for a while. Just until this thing with my neck blows over."

"What thing with your neck?" the raccoon asked confused. "Mordecai, are you alright?" he continued to ask, reaching out his paw to touch his friend's leg.

The bird jumped back, afraid that anything he does could harm his friend.

"Du…dude, listen. I need to get away for a while. I don't want to hurt you guys."

"What?" Rigby responded with more confusion. "I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

"I don't know what I'm talking about," Mordecai snapped, "but it's bad, okay? You and Margaret just need to keep away for a while. I'll be back though, I promise."

The elevator dings and the doors open up into a vacant room.

The bird stepped inside quickly and pressed the button for the lobby. "I'll be back. I'm not gonna leave you guys behind again."

The doors began to close leaving Rigby on the other side alone.

"I promise," was the last thing Mordecai coughed out before the doors slammed shut, and the elevator descended.

Rigby stood there with confusion and concern spread out across his face. What had just happened? Were he and Margaret being abandoned again? Mordecai did say he was coming back, but could he be trusted to keep his word this time? Rigby had no idea what to do, but he decided to keep himself calm this time. Nothing good was going to come of him losing his marbles again.

Rigby had to stand there and think for a second on what to do next. What did he usually do in times like this? What did he do when Mordecai always asked him to do one thing? He thought about it momentarily. He would, of course, do the exact opposite of what his friend told him to do. That's how much he cared about Mordecai. He cared about him enough to completely ignore whatever he told him to do.

The raccoon clicked at the button labeled down, next to the elevator and waited. He tapped his feet impatiently at the floor with his arms crossed, waiting for the device to arrive. When a few minutes had passed he began to excessively press the button, hoping that would bring it to him faster. When the button popped off and fell to the floor, the small man grunted under his breath and rushed down the hallway, and into a door marked with a stairs symbol.

The elevator came a second later.

* * *

Mordecai was in a frenzy as he quickly ran back to the park, his wing still covering up the growing hole in the back of his neck. Of all the screwed up stuff to happen to him within the past few months, this one had to take the cake. Not only did it not make any logical sense, but it endangered everyone around him. True that all the insane adventures he and Rigby had gone through put everyone in endanger, this one seemed a bit more dangerous than the others.

He hated that all of this shit had to happen to him. If it wasn't one thing it was another, and it always got worse from there. He began to wonder what will happen once this weird vortex thing was done and over with. A wave of sickness overwhelmed him as he thought about what was next. Hopefully, when it was all done, his relationship with Rigby and Margaret would get a little more stable.

He felt another part of him fall away, and so he began to pick up of the pace to the park.

"This can't get any worse," he thought to himself.

He passed under the archway leading into park and made a beeline for the house. He needed to get some things and get out of there before they got back. Don's invitation to stay at his place was probably still open. Maybe he could just crash there for a few days until things start to cool down. Hopefully, Mordecai's neck issue won't try to kill his friend's brother.

How was a vortex supposed to hurt them anyways? Was it just supposed to suck them up and that's it? What would happen to them after that? Mordecai didn't feel like asking those types of questions anymore. The more he thought about it, the more he thought about how it could happen to them. Would it be painful? How would they get sucked it? Piece by piece, maybe? Would they hate him for it?

He flinched again as another part chipped off. He needed to stop thinking about it. The more he thought about it, the worse it got. Mordecai decided to think about happier thoughts instead. What kind of thoughts could he think off? He thought about all the wacky adventures he and Rigby had got into, and how they got out of everything unharmed, for the most part. Images of Margaret and how he tried to flirt with her at the coffee shop drifted in and out of his mind, showing off simpler days. Then his mind got up in the present, and he thought about the three of them together, truly together, and for the first time since they all had fallen into their triangle, he felt disturbed.

Mordecai rushed through the front door of the house and climbed the stairs to their bedroom. It didn't take him long to find a back pack and start shoveling clothes and the essentials in it: snacks, games, a little extra cash he had been saving, music, this and that little stuff, etc. etc. He zipped in up nice and tight and prepared to leave. He thought about a few weeks earlier, and how he left his key on the drawer. Would it be okay if he kept it this time? Maybe that would reassure them that he would be back again.

There were a lot of parallels to him leaving now and back then. Back then he left because he just felt plagued by a rush of emotions and revelations about everything. Now he was leaving because he was afraid that his friends might be hurt by something, and more so, that they could be hurt by him in particular and he wouldn't be able to control it.

What did that shrink say though? That it would pass in time, or that it could be taken care of? He said that it could be fixed, but how? All that quack did was keep asking if anything big was happening in his life. Mordecai didn't want to answer any of his questions so he left, simple as that.

That wasn't true though. Mordecai knew that he only left because he was scared as hell to tell anybody about what was going on. He may have done strange things, and witnessed strange things, but three people in a relationship with each other was still a bizarre thing to get behind, especially when it involved two guys and a girl. Most of the "stories" that Mordecai saw on the internet were usually two girls and a guy, and that seemed to be more accepted… by the internets standards.

Mordecai groaned when he found himself taking moral advice from the internet. Had it really gotten that bad? Was he so screwed up that… no, he wasn't going to think about it. He cared for them both, no matter what kind of relationship they were in. They were his friends, his family, his lovers. Nothing was going to change that. They all would grow old and die together, end of story.

He was panicking again. His mind was continually playing tricks on him left and right and he couldn't do a damn thing to stop it. All he wanted to do at that moment was just get his back pack together and leave. He was going to keep the key this time. He was still a worker at the park. Maybe he could just commute to work and labor by himself during the day, away from Margaret and Rigby, until this vortex thing blows over. How long would that last? Maybe only a few days? Mordecai believed he was the type of person who could get over it fast. This was going to be no problem.

The blue jay turned quickly around his heel and was about to make his way out of the room, but was stopped by Rigby in the doorway, still looking slightly confused.

"D-dude," Mordecai exclaimed. "What are you doing here! I told you to stay at the hospital!"

"What's going on, bro?" Rigby asked trying to get straight to the point. "You went into that guy's office, and then you come out all crazy-like, and now you're trying to ditch us again? What is going on?"

Mordecai looked over his friend into the hallway. He could make a mad dash past his friend and out of the door if he wanted to, but that would make him look even more guilty of abandoning them again. Margaret would hear it from Rigby, and everyone knows he exaggerates everything. They both stood there for a moment while the sound of a light wind coursed through the room.

Rigby stepped inside the room and approached his love slowly. Mordecai took a few steps back, still refusing to allow the raccoon into his bubble.

"Can I see?" Rigby asked as he continued to approach.

"See what?" Mordecai whispered.

Rigby rolled his eyes and pointed to the bird's head. "You're neck thing! I wanna see it!"

"No, you don't!"

"Yes, I do!"

Mordecai felt his back hit the wall, finally noticing he had no where else to back up to. The plan of dashing past Rigby suddenly sounded like a good idea. He needed a distraction though. Someway, to keep the raccoon busy and allow the bird time to escape. Feeling the idea rush into his head, Mordecai knelt down, brought the raccoon into his arms, held him close, and kissed him.

Rigby was a little surprised at first, but enjoyed the kiss nonetheless. It didn't feel right though. A real kiss from Mordecai was a little more passionate, but had a subtle hint of shyness and romance to it. This didn't seem like any of those things. This was just… a kiss.

The raccoon knew what his bird friend was trying to pull, so in a quick moment, Rigby grabbed Mordecai by the shoulders, broke away from the kiss, and forced the blue jay down onto the small man's lap, giving Rigby ample sight of the vortex. He jumped at the strange thing in front of him and broke free of Mordecai's grasp a second later.

"Dude," Rigby screamed in fear, "what is that!"

"It's nothing," Mordecai answered hastily as he covered up his neck again with his wing. "Just a mosquito bite."

At that moment, Mordecai's hand fell into the hole, causing the bird to shriek in terror as he began to try and pull the appendage out of his neck. It popped out a few good tugs later, chipping more feathers and flesh on the way out as they too fell inside. The sound of the wind picked up.

"See?" Mordecai told him showing him his wing. "Nothing to worry about."

Rigby's eye twitched as he watched his friend cover up his obvious sickness. "Mordecai, we need to get you back to the hospital."

"I said I'm fine dude! Don't worry about it!"

"This is not normal bro! We need to get you back to the hospital!"

"And I said I'm fine. What part of 'I'm fine' do you not understand?"

"Mordecai, this looks bad."

Mordecai knew that when Rigby said it was bad, it actually meant something. Still, he refused to let up. "I'll be fine in a couple of day," he argued.

"You mean when you're dead! I don't want you to be dead!"

"I won't be dead, so quit worrying!"

Rigby returned to Mordecai's side and quickly grabbed his wing. "C'mon, we're getting you some help."

Mordecai pulled his arm away from the raccoon and looked down at him disapprovingly. "Dude, why do you always have to do this!"

"Do what? I'm just worried about you."

"You're always worried about me!"

"Cause I'm your friend!"

"Stop it," Mordecai finally screamed at him. "Just stop it! Stop using that excuse every time something like this happens! Just stop it!"

Where was this anger coming from? Rigby wasn't sure exactly what set him off. Was he trying to act mean to get Rigby away or did he really mean this?

"I care about you," the raccoon coughed out, "I really care about you, man!"

Mordecai looked away from his friend for a moment. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I care about you too, dude," he returned to his friend. He allowed the anger to leave his face, and replace it with general concern.

"I'm scared, dude," Mordecai said. "About everything."

"Well we'll work it out somehow, but we need to get you back to the hos-"

"I don't want to do this anymore."

Rigby looked at his friend quizzically. "What are you talking about?"

"This thing," Mordecai weakly spoke, "this thing that you, and me, and Margaret… this thing we got going."

"You don't like it?"

"Do you?"

Rigby had to think about that long and hard. It certainly wasn't that he didn't like it. He got constant attention from two people he adored, was the happiest he had been in a long time, got sex, which is something he was incredibly thankful for, and was happy to constantly be around the two birds. He cared for them both, hell, he could have gone so far to say he was in love with them. But one love trumped the other.

"Well I like it," he answered with a thoughtful expression, "I mean I like you and Margaret, and I didn't really see us doing anything like this before… but I can live without it."

"Well," Mordecai started again, "I can too. I just don't think I want to do this anymore. I think that's what's causing this thing," he finished as he pointed to the back of his neck. "I don't think I can handle it Rigby."

"Then don't," Rigby yelled, "don't worry about it. It can just be you and me. Forget about Margaret then."

Mordecai hesitated for a moment. Rigby had wasted no time trying to get the third wheel out of the way, no matter what his feelings for her were. He went the selfish route, like he always does. He was looking up at Mordecai with a grin on his face, hoping the blue jay would say the right words in this situation.

"Dude… I," was the only thing Mordecai knew how to cough out at that moment. He looked at his friend and tried to imagine what it would be like. It seemed so much simpler. A life that seemed like it wouldn't change. They would be happy together, always goofing and slacking off, not caring about the world around. Not caring about what other people saw when they were together. They could be happy together, because they were already happy together even before this whole mess started. And that was the one thing he didn't want to lose.

"I just wanna be your friend, Rigby."

The raccoon froze in his tracks. He wasn't prepared for this again. He didn't want to have to face rejection again. It had still been too soon since the last one and he didn't know if he could take it again.

"Rigby," Mordecai began, "I like what we had. I like that you've always been my friend, and someone who I can lean against. I like that you and I do all sorts of crazy things all the time and that we get into trouble. I like that we've been friends all our lives and that things are just simpler, if not a little annoying, around you. I don't want to lose that."

Not this conversation again. It was the same shit he spewed from his mouth back at the Walls-to-Walls, nearly verbatim. He didn't want to lose that? Didn't Mordecai know that it was out in the open now? How could they go back to a friendship like that knowing everything they've already shared with one another. Rigby knew all of this, why didn't he?

"That's not fair…," Rigby murmured.

"What?"

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

Mordecai jumped at the anger his friend was projecting. He wasn't expecting this. He was expecting Rigby to get a little angry sure, but more sad and introverted altogether. It was something that Mordecai was hoping the raccoon would be able to get over in time. Apparently, he was wrong.

"That's not fair! THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"Dude, calm down," Mordecai tried to reason with him.

"We go through all of this S, all of it, and you're telling me no NOW! You kissed me! You held me! You told me you cared about me! You FUCKED ME! And you're telling me that means absolutely nothing to you!"

"Rigby it's not what you think, please listen."

"NO," the raccoon screamed. "I'm tired of listening! You lied to me!"

"How did I lie to you?" the bird snapped back, feeling his own rage and agitation brewing from within him again. Pieces of the wall behind Mordecai began to crack and moan as they bended slowly from the vacuum in the bird's neck.

"With everything! This whole time I thought you actually cared about me, you didn't!"

"You're my friend, Rigby! Not my boyfriend! There's a difference!"

"You only cared about her," Rigby screamed as loud as he could towards his friend. "You never cared about me."

"Well, duh, I cared about Margaret. Do you have any idea how long I liked her? For the first time ever, I got a chance to actually be with her. You're just angry that I like her more than you!"

And so the truth finally comes out.

"More than… me?" Rigby said weakly.

"Yes, Rigby, more than you. I would think you would have noticed that if you weren't day dreaming about my cock all day."

The raccoon gritted his teeth and let everything inside him all out. "You barely even know her! How long have you been stalking her! A year? Two years? How long have we been together! Twenty fucking years! I know you like the back of my hand! I know everything you're going to do before you do it!"

"I can tell what you're going to do too, drill bit," Mordecai retorted to his friend.

"Then why didn't you know I liked you? Hm-hm-hm?"

"I already told you," the bird answered, "I already knew on some level."

"Then why didn't you say anything about it! Why couldn't you have told me you knew! At least then I could have been let down easier."

Mordecai looked away from his friend. He was sick of this conversation, and didn't want to be there anymore.

"But no," Rigby continued, "all you cared about is lady pecs, and red feathers, and Maaaaaargaret. You never cared about me at all."

"I cared about you as a friend, Rigby," the blue jay told him. "A friend! Do you know what a friend is?"

"Yeah, someone who doesn't abandon you for the first bit of tail that walks by."

"I didn't abandon you! Quit trying to put words in my mouth!"

"You were going to though," Rigby continued to yell, "as soon as you found someone else, you were going to leave me and never come back!"

"JUST… SHUT… UP, RIGBY!"

Pieces of the wall came undone and flowed into the black hole on the back of Mordecai's neck, his anger only making it larger. Little things scattered about the room began to fly into the air and get sucked up into the bird.

"I'M SICK OF THIS," the blue jay continued to bellow, "if I knew you were going to act like this all the time I would have left you in the cold a long time ago!"

Mordecai was sick of all of this. "Just go somewhere and die!"

The entire bedroom suddenly erupted as all four walls and the wooden floor splintered and cracked into hundreds of thousands of pieces. They swirled all around the room like debris caught in a hurricane, making the most destructive sounds imaginable. Mordecai screamed as he felt the sharp pieces of wood and plaster enter the back of his neck. The pain was unbearable. He tried to cover it up with his wings again, but when the debris stabbed and slashed at him, he moved his hands away. His looked at his wings and saw how bloody and beaten they had become in just a few short seconds. His body fell to the floor as the black hole continued to absorb everything in room.

Finally, the wall leading outside of house collapsed and large pieces of wood, paint chips, insulation, and plumbing came at him, squeezing them selves into the small hole. Mordecai could feel his flesh chip and tear, causing him to shriek in pain at the whole experience. How is it that these large items were being sucked up into such a tiny space? That shouldn't make sense, but then again, none of his experiences ever did. Right at the moment when he could feel himself black out, it stopped. Any stray pieces of the debris still dancing in the air, fell to the ground quietly.

It took Mordecai a moment to regain himself and sit up from the floor. Only a few patches of floor were still connected to the room. Any other parts simply lead to plumbing and innards of the house between the first and second floors. The same could be said about the walls, with only the inside of the walls being visible save for a few holes that peeked into the hallway, or any other nearby rooms. And then there was the wall next to his bed. It was gone completely. The entire wall and its insides were gone, revealing the park and all of its glory to the bird. All while he observed this, he could feel what felt like a fountain of blood poor down his back, creating a very noticeable puddle on the floor beneath him.

This must have been what that doctor was talking about. It was brutal just how powerful this thing on him was. That settled it. He could stay there no longer. He had to get out of the house as soon as possible and get away for a bit. Otherwise, the people he cared about might get hurt.

Rigby surged through his mind and he quickly looked around the remnants of the room to find him. Laying still on the ground on a spare patch of wood was Rigby. Mordecai noticed he was moving just slightly, so at least he was alive. He must have gotten knocked out by the commotion he thought. The bird approached the raccoon steadily and knelt down to pick him up. As he scooped the animal into his arms he saw it: Rigby was covered head to toe with splintered wood stabbed into his flesh, his body slashed all over.

Mordecai looked all over his body. Pieces of the wreckage had stabbed or lodged themselves into Rigby's flesh, causing him to bleed out all over his fur. The bloody strains all over him leaked out onto Mordecai's wings and arms, tainting them red from an endless river of his best friend's blood.

"Oh god…," Mordecai started, slowly coming to a realization. "OH GOD! Rigby… oh jeez."

He didn't know what to do, he looked down at the raccoon and his injuries and tried to think of something. The hospital! He needed to get him to a hospital. Where was the closest phone?

"You-yo-your gonna be alright, buddy. You're gonna be just fine."

Mordecai looked over at the bedroom door. It had been barricaded shut by the debris. There was no way he was getting out that way. The only other way out was through the hole in the wall that led outside into the park.

"We'll get you to a hospital. You're gonna-"

Rigby coughed up some blood onto Mordecai's chest. He tried to say something, but was in too much pain to even get a squeak out. Mordecai's eyes grew wide and his panic reached its maximum point.

"Don't die, okay? Don't die. Not yet. Not after we just got out of a fight. Don't die angry at me, dude."

The bird smiled when a memory of the past crossed his mind.

"Hey," he tried to cheer his friend up, "remember when I died angry at you? Well… now we're even. See? That worked out for you."

The blue jay tried to give a smile and show that it was going to be alright. But Mordecai knew it wasn't. Rigby was having trouble keeping his eyes open, and he was bleeding out all over the floor.

"Don't die," Mordecai said silently, feeling tears coming down his cheek. "Don't die. I'll make it up to you if you stay alive. We'll…"

He was trying to bargain with someone, anyone to keep his friend alive.

"I'll stay, okay? I'll just make it so it'll just be you and me. I won't abandon you, I'll take care of you all the time, I'll make sure that everything's about you. I'll love you… I'll love you, okay? You won't have to feel ignored anymore… just… don't…"

Rigby struggled a moment before bringing himself closer to Mordecai and resting his head happily on his chest. He tried bringing his hand up to feel at the bird's feathers. Mordecai grabbed at his furry paw and brought it close to his chest.

"Like that, right?" Mordecai ask caringly. "You like my feathers right. If-if you stay alive you can touch them as much as you want. You can stay as close to me as you want. You can… you can…"

The blue jay started rubbing his paw with his wing, hoping it would work to keep him away from death. His fur was so warm, and soft. He couldn't take it.

"Just don't go…"

He brought his head down to Rigby's and rubbed against it with his beak before flicking his tongue against the raccoon's cheek in a quick kiss.

"Don't go…"

He left his head there for a moment, feeling the raccoon's breath in his ear, as it steadily slowed down, taking longer and longer to draw another breath. Mordecai's panic stricken mind began to count the seconds in between breaths, hoping the intervals would become shorter. He continued to cradle his friend as he did, wishing for all the bad things to stop, until finally…

There was no more breath.

When he felt all of the life escape from Rigby's body, he allowed the rest of his tears to flow down his face, clutching the best thing he ever had in his arms. Mordecai's face had began to lose its color, literally beginning to lose his color. The blue on his face had begun getting sucked into the black hole behind him, leaving only the dark blue stripes on parts of his body, and the blackness of his beak.

"Don't take him away," he whispered. "Don't take him away."

He repeated it slowly, his mind broken in the process. The limp body in his arms fell to the floor as he continued to repeat the message over and over.

"Don't take him away…"

Rigby's body began to slowly slide away from the bird, as well as a few small pieces of broken wood and plaster.

"Don't take him away…"

Eventually, the body of the raccoon too fell into the vortex in the back of Mordecai's neck.

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

_Mosquito Repellent – The Mountain Goats and Kaki King_

_

* * *

_

_Sometimes good intentions can hurt others…_

_Adieu…_


	24. We're Away

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

**We're Away**

"Alright Benson," Howard, the doctor, began with a smile on his face. "I want you to tell me the exact locations of all your gumballs in this room."

The gumball machine sighed in his bed. A blindfold had been tied around his head to keep the man from seeing where his doctor had placed them all. His job was to describe where all four of his missing gumballs were in the room. The doctor had taken some of them earlier and given them to Benson's visitors, telling them to stand in random places around the area.

"Pops is under the bed," Benson sighed.

A short wave of giggles escaped the lollipop man as he crawled out from under the hospital bed. Everyone wondered how the old man was even able to fit under there with his bulbous head, but ignored it for the most part.

"Correct Benson," Pops said with cheer, "absolutely correct! Good show! How ever did you know where I was?"

"We all heard you get under the bed, Pops, and there are still three more gumballs in the room, so don't get too excited," Benson responded as he held out an open hand.

The taller gentlemen smiled and pulled out a gumball from his vest pocket and relinquished it to his underling. Pops bit down on his lower lip in excitement as he sat down in a nearby chair to watch the excitement, giddy as a three year old child.

Benson took a deep breath and tried to pinpoint the next location of his innards. He could sense something somewhere in the corner of the room. No wait… it was moving. Slowly but surely it was moving.

"Aren't you usually supposed to be standing still in these exercises," Benson said with a growing smile, "doctor?"

Howard stopped in his tracks and chuckled at the perceptiveness of his patient. "Good job, Benson. May I ask as to how you knew it was me though?"

The long and tall metal man shrugged before receiving another one of his gumballs from the physician. "Shot in the dark," he said. He spun the two gumballs in the palm of his hand trying to figure out the locations of the other two.

"There's someone outside the room with one of them," he continued turning his head slightly in the direction of his missing gumball. Two seconds later, Skips entered the room with a neutral expression and delivered the gumball in an instant. Benson reached out his hand suddenly to get a good feel for the person, feeling at the beast's chiseled chest. "Oh it was you Skips. Good to know."

The yeti shrugged and also found a seat in a chair next to the bed.

All that was left was Margaret, seeing that it had to be the female out of process of elimination. Mordecai had been drug out of the room by a therapist, Rigby followed after them, and Muscle Man and High Five Ghost were thrown out earlier, so unless some random person decided to enter the room and steal a gumball, it had to be her. Now where was she?

"Margaret's in the restroom."

The sound of flushing water alerted the group to someone in the restroom across from the bed. Sure enough, the red robin emerged from there a second later, wiping off her wings with a paper towel.

"That's really good, Benson," she commented as she crumpled up the paper and threw it into a waste basket. "You're like a gumball medium, aren't you?"

"Benson the superhero," Pops announced joyfully. "Jolly good! Jolly good!"

"I'd pay eight bucks to see that at the movies," Margaret said as she reached into her jacket pocket for the gumball that belonged to her boss.

A man suddenly burst in through the door and approached Howard, causing alarm to everyone in the room. It was the therapist that had snatched Mordecai from out of the room earlier. He whispered something in the doctor's ear and they nodded to one another.

"What's going on?" Margaret asked.

"Your friend skipped out," the therapist said quickly before returning to his previous conversation with Howard.

"Skipped out?" the woman went on. "What do you mean by that?"

Martin sighed and walked up to Margaret with a curious expression on his face. "Where would your friend go if he ran off?"

"Ran off? Did Mordecai run off again?"

"Again…?" The therapist said with a growing look of worry about him. "You mean he's done this before? May I ask why?"

Margaret took a gulp of air. She didn't feel like getting into that discussion with the person in front of her. What she was more interested with was this business of Mordecai ditching again. And for that matter…

"What about Rigby?" she asked him. "Where did he go?"

"The raccoon? Probably went chasing after your friend. He seemed to be pretty interested in what was going on in my office. Seemed like a protective little guy."

Where could they have gone? Whatever happened in that office was enough to send the bird over the edge once again. Margaret groaned, knowing full well where he went off to. If he was pulling this stunt a second time, then he would obviously go as far to try and repeat it successfully this time. He was like a broken record he seemed like. At least this could work to the red robin's advantage.

"He probably went back to the house."

"At the park?" the therapist asked her.

"Probably. If Rigby's chasing after him though, maybe he'll calm down and actually come back this time."

She thought about the two of them for a moment. Mordecai was possibly unstable again and a hyperactive raccoon was going to try and calm him down. For some reason, that just didn't sit too well with her. In fact, knowing the story behind the three of them, it was actually going to make things worse.

"I should probably go after them too," she sighed.

"I think you should probably stay here," Martin told her. "Your friend, he's dangerous right now. Might not be a good idea to hunt him down… or call him… or be anywhere in the vicinity of a mile of him."

Everyone's expression went wide eyed with confusion as they listened to the therapists tiny rant.

"Dangerous?" Benson said as he ripped off his blindfold. "How is that idiot dangerous? I mean he's done dangerous things before, but he's never really been dangerous himself. Why is he suddenly a threat?"

"Can't tell you that, sorry," the therapist answered with a shrug. "Doctor-patient confidentiality."

"He's not technically your patient," Howard countered.

"Well, so sue me for doing my job and caring about my patients."

"They have sued you," the doctor continued, "six times."

"WHAT!" Benson screamed at the top of his lungs.

An argument ensued a moment later as the doctors both had to work together to calm Benson down as much as possible. Margaret rolled her eyes at the whole exchange and resumed to thinking about what the boys were up to. She approached a window in the room and glanced outside in the direction of the park. It was still there in the distance. Nothing seemed out of place to the naked eye, but as she took another closer look toward the mounds of green in the distance, something seemed off.

The colors seemed a little more faded then usual. They didn't have a dead color or anything like that but were more worn and quiet. They were almost subdued colors by the looks of it. She squinted her eyes and tried to figure this out. All the trees and grass on the outside of the park looked bright and colorful, even after two weeks worth of snow and cold. So then why was everything closer to the middle of the park faded?

She gasped at the window when she saw what happened next. Everyone turned to her, growing curious as to what was happening. Skips stood up from his seat and approached the window with her. His mouth went agape from what he saw. Margaret turned herself on a heel and ran off as fast as she could toward the park, leaving a room of noise and worry behind.

* * *

Margaret knew for a fact that whatever was happening to the park had to be because of Mordecai or Rigby, or maybe even both. What did they do now that possibly caused the effect the park was having? For that matter, why was she even running? Wasn't this more of a Skips or Benson assignment? No, this was a Margaret thing. She knew the two of them were in trouble somehow and decided to save them herself. It was that bit of love and chivalry that was in her heart. Perhaps that was what set her apart from the other two in her group. She wasn't afraid of a fight.

She passed under the archway leading into the park and confirmed what she saw in the hospital. The robin stopped in her tracks to observe everything. The color in the park was being sapped away. It wasn't that it was fading of anything, but more that it was being drawn away from its original source. She could see the actual greens of the grass and trees slide away toward some unknown destination.

Margaret suddenly began to feel a strange sensation as well. A weird feeling of being dragged in some general direction or another. It wasn't a bad feeling, just odd and completely peculiar. She looked down at her hands and saw little tendrils of red slowly escaping her and flowing to its point of contact. She could have turned around and let this play out. She could have gotten help from an outside source. But for some reason, which for the life of her she didn't understand, she kept pushing on. The girl wanted to make sure that the men she loved were alright. Something in her gut told her to keep moving. So she did.

The closer she got to this centered pointed, the more she noticed the colors around her becoming more and more faded. Even colors such as black and grey were succumbing to this strange color affliction. Finally, she ran into an area where the colors just sprang up, and faded into dust, pulling itself in the direction of it's destination on a microscopic level. What seemed so strange about all of this though was that everything was still there. The grass and trees were still there, they just didn't have any color. Every color had been replaced with a blank canvas of white, signifying nothing. The outlines of everything didn't even look vivid anymore, like pencil sketches and drawings on a sheet of paper. Margaret watched a leaf fall out of a nearby tree. It didn't fall with a smooth random motion, instead tumbling to the ground in a broken, disjointed, and choppy manner. She picked this leaf sketch up from the ground and observed it closely. She could see her still colored hand right through it. The girl dropped it, and watched it choppily fall to the ground. She had an idea as to where the color was going.

When she got to the house, it was already in shambles. Not only had the color been drained from it as well, but the sketched out areas of it were falling to pieces and flying toward their bedroom area. She quickly ran up to the front door and gripped the handle. It fell apart into dust in her hand as soon as she touched it. Margaret began to feel slightly afraid now. She wondered if it was too late to maybe go back and get some help. But she pressed on instead.

She ran down the steps of the porch back onto the grassy lawn, just in time to watch the steps disappear into dust as well. She turned back to look at the front of the house, just in time to watch a good chunk of the building fade, causing Margaret to gasp as she watched her home slowly dissolve in front of her. With the inside of the house exposed, she saw Mordecai up in the distance, where the room used to be, twitching uncontrollably as the park slowly flowed into his neck.

"Mordecai," she screamed. "MORDECAI!"

She clamped her beak together in annoyance. She was yelling as loud as she could and he couldn't hear her. The sound of the hurricane like wind at ground zero of the thing was keeping the blue jay from hearing anything. Margaret needed to find a way up there. She looked around herself for someway up to the bedroom. As she glanced the area, she looked down and found herself standing on infinite white. The grass had disappeared now too and the only thing keeping her up was her hope that gravity wouldn't fail her. A piece of colorless lumber whizzed by her toward the bedroom with another one coming shortly after that. When she noticed the third one come around, she jumped at it, grabbing the piece and flying up to the bedroom in a quick succession.

She fell onto the monochrome floor and looked up at Mordecai. The man was curled down on the ground in a fetal position, shivering in pain and fear, his blue and black gone, a pencil sketch himself. Margaret slowly crawled her way over to the bird, noticing as she did that the tips of her wings were colorless now as well, and it was spreading. Her color was being torn from her like thread from clothe. She hoped it wasn't permanent.

The woman made it within ear shot of the bird and let a quick scream. "Mordecai!"

He twitched slightly and the tornado ceased its excessive yelling and greedy eating. The righteous sound of the wind halted and anything heading into Mordecai's neck, stopped in midair, floating quietly and watching the events unfold. Mordecai looked over at Margaret. That expression of worry on her face was the thing that soothed the savage beast's appetite.

"Margaret?" he said weakly.

She smiled and nodded to him. He picked himself up, and in an instant, hugged and tackled her, closing his wings around her into a tight hug. She wasted no time hugging back, peaking around his shoulder to look at the terrible gash that had gone from being something small and minor to stretching to the size of a baseball in diameter. The outline of a liquid of some sort seemed to be running down the center of his back, leading Margaret to believe it was once his blood.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"No," he said quietly.

"What's happened? What's going on with all of this? And your neck, what's going on with that?"

"Don't go…," he muttered broken.

"What?"

"Don't go…"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't go…"

"Mordecai, I don't understand. What are you talking about? You're scaring me."

He began to repeat it over and over again like a broken record. His mind was already lost and Margaret knew this. The blue jay might have been past the point of saving. She looked around the remnants of the room for Rigby. Maybe he could talk some sense into him. The girl mentally smiled thinking that the one person she needed to talk to make sense was the random and uncontrollable Rigby. Who'd a thunk it?

"Mordecai," she started again, "where's Rigby?"

His excessive talking suddenly stopped. His body began to shiver again and the sound of a light wind began to come out of the vortex. The blue jay whimpered a few times, tightening his grip on the red robin.

"What's wrong?" she asked him. "Is… is it about Rigby?"

The worst case scenario started to swirl around in her head. Something terrible had happened here and she wasn't sure what. Margaret had only seen the aftermath of what was happening all around her. She only hoped that the raccoon was only injured or had a mental breakdown too, or something that wasn't too terrible.

"…gone…" Mordecai sobbed. "Rigby's gone…"

Margaret's breathing started to pick up slowly as the realization of what might have happened started to sink in. "What do you mean?" she asked softly. "Like went to get help, or just left, or…"

His grip around her tightened again, making it slightly difficult for her to breath. She didn't like where this was going. Everything seemed to add up too nicely, and the outcome was what was scaring her the most.

She took a deep breath. "He's dead, isn't he?"

Mordecai suddenly began to cry uncontrollably into her shoulder and neck. He began to mutter something nonsensical and high pitched. She had never seen Mordecai act like this before. This sort of emotional outburst was more reserved for Rigby, who actually did let loose crying every other week in the most spectacular display of tears she or anybody had ever seen. No, no. She was wrong. Rigby didn't even get this bad. This was just upsetting, unsettling, and just completely disturbing.

She thought about Rigby. This was impossible. Rigby would never go down that easily, not without a fight. Margaret looked around the room for the signs of a struggle. Most of the room was fading fast and anything that could have told her what was happening had been wiped clean and replaced with a blank canvas. She didn't want to admit Rigby was gone. That little raccoon was too stubborn to die. He would, could, should have outlived them all.

"H…how?" she continued to ask the blue jay, doing her best to keep her own emotions in check and keep from breaking down into tears.

Mordecai sobbed continually into her shoulder, keeping his grip around her firm. "I killed him…"

Her heart stopped, and she went deaf to everything else around her. She did not just hear that. In fact, she had to have imagined that. Mordecai killing Rigby? Ha! What an absurd notion. But why would Mordecai joke about something like that?

"I killed him…" he repeated loudly.

Margaret felt her eye twitch. That was it. She was done. The robin quickly relinquished her hold of the man and tried to push him away, but his grip was too strong. He began to sob uncontrollably again, keeping his clutches on the robin.

"Let me go," she screamed in his ear. "LET ME GO!"

"No," he cried. "You'll leave me too. YOU'LL LEAVE ME TOO!"

"Mordecai please let me go," she screamed again, feeling the tears she was holding back come down her face in fear. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die. Not here, not ever if she could.

"I didn't mean to," he pleaded. "It just happened. I didn't mean to!"

Margaret's heart rate skyrocketed to that of hummingbirds, trying to find a way out of the grasp of this lunatic. She now truly believed that this man that had his wings around her had killed his best friend. Why? She wasn't sure, but she didn't want to find out. She wanted out. And soon.

"I begged him not to leave," Mordecai snapped, "but he left anyways!"

This wasn't Mordecai. Mordecai was dead, Margaret thought. This was just some insane maniac who let his emotions get the best of him and caused pain wherever he went. This place was unknown to her, and this person was a stranger. The only person who could have possibly made things better was dead now. But how? How did it happen? She didn't want to know. She just wanted as far away from the park, the city, her life, as humanly possible.

She reached her wing up, and pulled back her body as much as possible. Her fist connected with Mordecai's beak a moment later, and his grasp on her was released.

Margaret jumped to her feet and quickly jumped out of the bedroom onto the nonexistent ground (thankful she didn't hurt her leg) and began to sprint. Everything was gone. The park was nothing more than a blank white canvas ready to be drawn upon by any five year old with a box of crayons. The city could still be seen in the distance though, and she knew she had to get there as fast as her feet could take her. She just had to keep running. Run, run, run, run, run!

"Don't go…" someone said behind her.

She turned and saw the colorless Mordecai floating toward her like a vengeful spirit. The girl wanted nothing to do with it, so she turned back to the sprint in front of her. But in front of her was another colorless bird, sitting on the ground, laughing hysterically at something. And then to her right was another one, looking brave and bold, and then one to her left with his wings covered over his face, shivering in fear.

They were everywhere. These strange pencil sketches of Mordecai were everywhere. Each one was acting more different than the other, surrounding her, observing her with their eyes. Were all of these his emotions? What was going on? She was scared out of her mind and wanted to go away from here. But they were everywhere, blocking her path. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them appearing all around, circling her, confining her. She couldn't keep running without getting in the way of one of them, and they all were looking in her general direction.

Margaret looked behind her and saw the original Mordecai floating toward her. His body began to divide into another Mordecai, falling to the ground unconsciously. The other Mordecai continued to float toward her silently. It approached her and wrapped its wings around her again. She tried to struggle and bat him away, but her arm went right through him.

"This is it," she thought. "This is where I'm going to die. This is what I get for falling for strange men." She closed her eyes and expected the worse to happen any moment.

"I'm sorry," it said as it embraced her, throwing her off guard. "I didn't mean to hurt you two."

Margaret took a staggered breath and stood there, hoping it would all be over soon.

"I love you both…," it continued its voice slowly getting quieter. "I was selfish. I wanted you both. I didn't want to have to choose."

She continued to listen to him. Her breathing slowing down. Who was this person talking to her? Was this a representation of his true feelings? Or maybe this was his guilt? She didn't understand anything that was happening.

"It's my fault…" he went on, this time his voice barely above a whisper. "You can hate me if you want. I screwed everything up. Admit it."

Margaret listened to him, not allowing her thoughts to interrupt anything. She listened to this soul in front of her bare everything he had. She knew this is what Mordecai had always wanted to say; to come clean about everything that had happened to all of them the past few months. He was losing, and he realized it finally. Mordecai knew that there was no other way out of it.

Margaret took a deep breath, and emptied her mind. "I don't hate you," she told him. "I never hated you. I just… I just wanted to be happy."

She took in another deep breath as more tears came down her sad face. "I just wanted you to be happy, no matter who it was with. You and Rigby."

"Thank you," it said almost silent as his body began to fade away.

Margaret found her body slowly released from the ghost's grasp as she gained control of herself again. All around her, these visages of Mordecai disappeared one after another, fading into dust and nothingness. The torrential wind that sounded all through the park had disappeared now, leaving an eerie silence around her. The only form left of Mordecai was that of the unconscious being on the ground. It still had the black hole on the back of its neck, and was finished sucking up the remnants of his emotions.

Margaret trotted over to the collapsed blue jay and knelt down in front of him. His eyes shot open a second later. She jumped at the sight, but tried to keep herself as collected as possible. This must have been the real Mordecai. The one that had caused all this mess. She was angry and scared, but she didn't want to show that to him. It was best to help him pick up the pieces, get him some help, find him an asylum somewhere and keep him there for the rest of his life.

"Good morning," she said hesitantely. "Are you alright now, Mordecai?"

"Margaret?"

He looked up to her, seeing her tired and worn out face. She reached out her hand and gave a weak smile to him. He smiled back.

It happened in an instant. She didn't have time to react. She didn't even know what had happened. It was like a photograph being taken and the flash going off and blinding you. Or maybe like a bullet tearing through flesh, flinging you aside so fast, you don't even have time to comprehend the pain or the event. It happened so quickly.

Mordecai's wings were already around her neck before she could stop him. He began to strangle the life out of her. Anger. This thing was the last bit of his emotions; his anger toward him and everything around him. This thing was that vortex in the back of his neck. It was finishing the job it had started with Mordecai and Rigby.

It's strength was incredible. The force of his choke drained her of any energy to fight back. The tips of her wings began to shake and shiver. She thought she was safe. She thought that things were finally over. She thought that maybe, just maybe she had made it out into the clear, and that things might have started to-

_Snap!_

Her neck crumbled, and her body went lifeless and limp. The rest of her color was absorbed into Mordecai, and finally, she too faded and fell in. A moment later… the anger began to laugh a high pitched squeal as it dissolved as well and was absorbed into the black hole.

Seeing its job finished, the vortex ceased its vacuum and closed itself up tight, disappearing into nothing.

The park was gone, the city was spared.

**The headlines drip with horror…**

**Beware! Beware! Beware!**

**The news says no tomorrow…**

**But how can I be scared…**

**In**

**Her**

**Arms…?**

**World do your worst**

**She and I have closed our eyes**

**And lifted every curse**

**We're away…**

**In-caving concave military light**

**Is merely rain against the glass**

**For**

**Lovers**

**In**

**The**

**Night…**

_We're Away – Elbow_

* * *

_Sometimes I can't hear myself think…_

_Adieu…_


	25. Between Breaths

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

**Between Breaths (an XX perspective)**

And that's how I died. The life choked right out of me, with my neck breaking it a million pieces, or at least it felt like it did. It was a strange feeling being dead. Felt pretty good actually. Like a big release. The biggest orgasm you'll ever have in your life. You're free! No more worries about how I'm gonna pay the bills, or how I'm going to afford this, or finding a job, or what am I gonna do about my love life. It was all quiet and peaceful. No images. No sounds. No feelings. Only darkness.

Sure it was scary at first being there all by my self with nothing but the dark to keep me company, but I'm used to it. Every man I've ever cared about in my life had always left me alone, or betrayed me, or some bullshit like that, so I didn't really care anymore. This silence was all I needed now, and that was fine with me.

I could already feel bits and pieces of myself slip away. Memories were disappearing at an alarming rate. I saw moments of the past flash by me like a bolt of lightning and were gone in a moment, never to be thought of again. I loved this empty headed feeling. I didn't have to worry about anything anymore.

No more working at that park and its weird inhabitants.

No more dealing with strange monsters and unexplainable phenomena.

No more crazy blue jays and hyperactive raccoons and this screwed up love triangle we shared.

This was good. Just take it all away. I don't want it anymore. I just want to be left by myself. Just me and my thou-

…

…

…

…

_We_

_Aren't_

_Finished_

_Here_

_Yet…_

* * *

Margaret screamed as the sudden feeling of hands around her neck returned to her. She clutched at the area with her wings hoping to force the attacker off her. But when she reached up, nothing was there. That didn't make any sense. Just a moment ago, she was being killed by some bizarre representation of Mordecai's feelings. That, in its own right, was completely nonsensical. She took a deep breath and looked around herself worriedly.

Wait, this didn't make any sense either. She was… in the coffee house? A quick glance around the room confirmed everything. The tables and the chairs were all there and in their usual place. The scent of coffee lingered in the air which attracted memories of the past to flash by her mind suddenly. No one was there though. Not a single person.

The robin looked down at her self suddenly, checking her attire. She was still wearing the same jeans and jacket she had on when she went to go check on Mordecai and Rigby. The girl groaned, wishing, for the first time in her life, that she had been wearing her old work uniform. She had hoped that everything that had happened the past few months had been nothing more than a dream. This didn't make things any better. Why was she at the coffee house?

"What!" screamed an angry patron as he was being pushed out the door, "you gotta be kidding me! It's only eight o'clock!"

Margaret looked up quickly toward the stairs leading out of the coffee shop. There at the top of the steps was herself, still donned in her coffee house attire, pushing a patron out the door.

"I'm sorry sir," this Margaret said trying hard to push a rather large and overweight man out the door, "but we have to close early tonight to clean up."

"Well that's no excuse! Isn't it your job to serve patrons like me! Isn't the customer always right?"

"Sir, I apologize again," she added, "but it's just me here tonight, and I need to get this place cleaned up before opening again tomorrow."

"But-"

The coffee house Margaret then put all of her footing into pushing the man out of the door, pulling it shut, and locking it just as quickly. The man outside began mouthing some very unflattering things to her, but with the past few days that she and her co-workers have had, she couldn't give a crap. She looked over the guard railing of the stairs next to the entrance to survey the damage.

A quick flash of lightning, and everything changed suddenly. It looked as though the current Margaret was standing in the middle of a freeze frame. The lights in the coffee house had been blown out, the tables and chairs had been picked up from off the ground and were floating silently in air, unmoving, and to her side was herself again, caught in a frozen moment or fear… a demonic electric monster loomed above her, torturing her.

"Look familiar?" asked a voice behind her.

The red robin spun around as fast as she could to see who was talking to her. In front of her was… herself again? Now there were three Margaret's in the room: the present day Margaret scared out of her wits, the past and frozen Margaret who's being tormented by Iacedrom, and this third one standing in front of her looking quite calm and collected. In fact, she looked much different from herself on closer inspection.

She stood up tall and pronounced, not showing the least bit of fear or confusion. Unlike the jacket and jeans combination that present Margaret sported, this Margaret seemed to be wearing a business style suit, complete with a low skirt that stretched to her ankles and a suede jacket over a white button up shirt and a red tie. This woman brought up her wing and adjusted the glasses over her beak, looking as prim and sophisticated as possible.

"Who are you?" Margaret asked this imposter in front of her.

"Who do you think I am?" the woman responded with a frown.

"I think you're someone I'd rather not meet," Margaret answered her, annoyed that this woman wouldn't answer her own question.

"And why is that?" the woman continued to ask.

"Cause I have a bad history with doppelgangers," Margaret said, pointing to the electric monster behind her.

The imposter glanced behind her and saw Iacedrom frozen in the process of torturing the past Margaret. "Oh yes… I remember that," she said with the same frown. "Well then, I suppose in the mean time while you figure it out, you may call me Teragram."

Margaret twitched at that name. Not only could she tell it was a bastardization of her own name, but it only brought back terrible memories of the hell her and her friends went through with the creature behind her, who also shared a backwards name.

"I can tell that this place upsets you," Teragram commented as she looked around the room. "Doesn't make me the happiest person either, so I suppose a change of scenery is in order."

The woman waved her hand around the air, and changed the "photo" to a memory not too soon after that. They were in the hospital room again. Mordecai was hooked up to an IV and had bandages all over him self. Margaret sat in a chair next to the bed, doing her best to rest and fall asleep. Rigby sat in a chair opposite of her looking worried and concerned. Knowing what she knows not, Margaret could definitely see the compassion in his eyes and the undying love he felt for the bird.

"It's kind of sad watching him," the doppelganger said, observing the raccoon. "He deserved so much better and look what he got…"

Margaret sighed at the sight as well, feeling absolutely dreadful for everything that had happened to them the past few months.

"Yes, yes," Teragram continued. "Look what he got: Rejection from his best friend, and a whore who's trying to steal his man."

Margaret knew something like that was going to come sooner or later. Any thought of this woman being an evil twin was cemented into her brain now as she listened. A statement like that would unnerve anyone and cause them to become filled with rage, but Margaret took a deep breath and allowed it to hit her with stride.

"Of course you would say that," she muttered. Margaret turned to look at this woman again. "Who are you really?"

Teragram gave the briefest of smiles, keeping her gaze set on Rigby. "Well you're going to have to figure that one out for yourself, aren't you?"

Margaret turned back to the sleeping past version of her self and sighed. "Figures…"

"Oh come on," the clone said adjusting her glasses again, "it's not that bad. You'll figure it out soon enough. If you're lucky, maybe it'll be soon enough to save him."

The robin turned to away from herself to look at herself. She thought for a second how absolutely strange that sounded. "What do you mean 'save him'?"

"Well what do you think I mean?"

Margaret sighed in exasperation again as she tried to piece together what this woman was talking about. Save him? What did she mean by that? The only two men that she had a chance to save were Rigby and Mordecai, and she was pretty sure they one of them was dead. Hell, she was pretty sure that she herself was dead and that this was some sort of representation of hell for her.

"You're not dead, and this isn't hell," Teragram whispered in Margaret's ear.

Margaret jumped back when she noticed the doppelganger come up on her so unexpectedly. What's more, she answered the doubts she had in her mind.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" Margaret chimed.

"How do you think?"

These answering questions with more questions was starting to get on the red robin's nerves.

"It is annoying, isn't it?" the clone said with a sly grin.

"Stop that," Margaret exclaimed getting sick of it. So apparently, this girl could read her mind. The real Margaret would have to make sure not to think anything too clearly, less she unveils something important.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Teragram said out of the blue, "I already know everything about you."

Margaret was getting scared. She didn't like this person in front of her. And the fact that this creature was using her face made her feel even worse about it.

A flash of light occurred in front of them, signaling a change in time period again. The two found themselves in Margaret's old apartment, looking on at the swelling conversation that Rigby and past Margaret were in the middle of.

"I don't care if you're sorry," the raccoon screamed, his voice echoed in the apartment. "I don't care anything about you!"

The old Margaret took a step back, feeling every bit of the incoming verbal assault that Rigby was dishing out. Present Margaret flinched as she remembered the feeling of getting screamed at because of her own incompetence; another moment she didn't want to relive. She could see the anger on the raccoon's face and watched as he continued to berate her.

"How stupid are you! Mordecai's been crushing all over you for who knows how long, and this entire time you couldn't see it! You… you play with him, you toy with his emotions, and then, and then… and then you go and say that you think we're a couple of q…"

"Stop it," the present day Margaret muttered at her double's direction. "Why are you showing me all these things? Haven't I suffered enough? I don't want to see any of these images again, so why are you showing them to me?"

Teragram took a few steps forward into the scene, phasing through the angry raccoon in the process. "Well…" she began with her back facing Margaret. "Why am I showing all of-"

"Quit the BULLSHIT," Margaret screamed as she approached her clone and turned her around. As she turned her around, Teragram's head fell limply to its side, the neck bone protruding out of her flesh and feathers. Margaret let her go in shock, watching the body fall to the floor. As it met the ground, the head popped off and rolled a few feet along. It stopped suddenly when a foot clamped down on top of it.

Margaret's eyes followed the leg up to its face and was met with Teragram again. "You scare too easily, girl," she said with that frown again. "Even if we don't want to admit it."

She put all her strength on her food, and crushed the head into a pile of flesh, bone, and gore all over the apartment floor. The past Margaret and Rigby both suddenly stared at the present day Margaret with dead eyes and screamed.

The bird took a gulp of breath and closed her eyes. Maybe if she closed her eyes and pretended she was dreaming, she would wake up back home. She began to count.

1…

2…

3…

4…

5…

6…

7…

8…

9…

10…

She opened her eyes and found herself back in the bed of the park house. She sat up from under the covers and looked around. Rigby was on his trampoline dreaming quietly, the morning sun was slowly coming out onto the room, everything was still there. The alarm clock on the night stand had a few minutes on it left before the timer would go off.

Was that it? Was it just some sort of deranged dream? Margaret fell back onto the bed in relief. She started thinking that maybe she was working too hard to impress everyone. How long had she been working there now? Only a few weeks, right? That dream though. Made it seem like a few months actually.

Something hit her though, like a shot of adrenaline. It started at her pelvis spreading over her body instantaneously. It was familiar. She knew what it was. The wave shot through her again, as her eyes closed when it happened a third time. In fact, it kept happening. Such a strange thing this pleasurable feeling, causing little shivers to course through her body in quick succession.

She blinked, and there was Mordecai above her, thrusting himself into her at a steady rhythm. Each time he came down he released a heavy breath, that seemed to get louder into a moan. Margaret herself clutched at his back, letting out contented gasps and her own sounds of ecstasy as the male continued to push him self in and out of her.

"Mo…Mordecai," she gasped out. "Gon-gonna… almost…"

Something familiar about all this. Something unique about all this. She was beginning to **LOSE **herself to the feeling, clearing her mind of any short comings, and not caring to explain the situation. This feeling was too good. She didn't want to let that go. Her body was lifted up suddenly, and she found her self on his lap as he continued to lust with her. Mordecai wrapped his wings around her, bringing her into a close embrace. His beak met with hers in a series of kisses. Margaret barely had anytime to kiss back when she felt a force began to build in her.

"I'm about to..." she muttered happily.

"Me too," he said quickly, returning to his kisses.

It was coming at full force, there was no **STOPPING **it. Margaret let out a bellowing scream as she felt her orgasm at full force.

_WHORE_

A sudden cold came over her a moment later. Margaret found herself outside, naked and spent, with Benson right in front of her. He stared at her for a moment before looking away with hesitation and walking back to his chores. He looked at the cup in his hand for a split second before continuing on.

A sense of shame and disgust for herself swept over Margaret. She was still in this dream, or hell, or whatever it was. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to be in the cold, naked, and exposed smelling of sweat and sex. But she wasn't actually… a quick glance at herself and she was back in the clothes she came in with, jacket, jeans, and all.

"Funny," that familiar female voice began, "this whole thing scares you shitless, but you don't get freaked out by the sudden fuck you receive."

"I thought the whole thing was a dream," Margaret snapped at Teragram, who had appeared in front of her, sporting a to go cup of coffee.

She adjusts her glasses again and turns to walk away. "Just tells you something about it."

"About what?" Margaret asks as she picks herself up from off the ground.

"About how much of a hypocrite you are…"

_SLUT_

"Hypocrite? For what, for liking being close to someone I care about like that?"

"So you don't see it as just sex?" Teragram asked as she took a sip of coffee. "Well then what is it then? Is it making love?"

"Why shouldn't it be? Mordecai and I have slept with each other a few times these past few weeks, it's nothing big."

"My dear 'me'," the clone started again, "in order for it to make love, you first must have a connection with this person, preferably romantic, hence the term. But lets be honest here… you and Mordecai don't have anything other than a passing fancy."

The women looked at each other, both of them with knifes and daggers in their eyes.

"Passing fancy?" Margaret said. "I think it's a little more than that."

"Really now?" Teragram asked, pretending to look interested. "Explain."

"Do you have any idea what Mordecai and I had to go through to get to where we are?"

"Oh," the doppelganger exclaimed, "you mean being confused about your feelings for one another, while being in a romantic relationship with a raccoon, trying to keep the blue jay level headed in the relationship, and then later getting yourself killed by his overactive emotions? How is that working out for you, by the way?"

"Look, I'm not defending what we're doing here," Margaret explained.

"I see differently," the clone murmured.

"…but it works, okay? We all love each other, and we all know it."

"Do you now? Because, again, I see differently."

"Well you seem to know so much about me," Margaret argued, "why don't you explain."

_HARLOT_

"Well it's simple."

The locale changed again to that of a dark nothingness with a single lamp hanging over a bed. In the bed were Margaret and the two boys in the act. Paws and wings searching frantically for flesh, fur, and feathers. Moans and groans were released from the various residents of the bed, and their thoughts were cleared of all short comings, filled only with lust and pursuit of pleasure for themselves and one another.

"You don't care who it is," Teragram said as she approached the bed. "You'll just fuck 'em and be done with it."

Margaret was taken a back from that sudden outburst and approached the woman. She reached back her hand and slapped the copy right across the cheek. She felt the sting too, and was thrown to the ground by the force. Teragram, however, was unmoved and remained stationary, looking on at the act in the bed.

"I think at this point," she said coldly, "you just want somebody to be with… even if it's only for fifteen minutes."

Shadows from the darkness pinned Margaret to the floor, raising them selves up and began to form distorted images of past and present men in her life. They began to claw at her clothes and face, desperately wanting her body.

"If you truly did care about either one of them, and yes, I am including Rigby cause I know you care about him the same way as you do Mordecai; if you truly did care for them, you wouldn't want to do it."

These shadows surrounded her, and continued to rapidly rush and grab her. Their mouths began to kiss and lick all over her face and neck. She hated it. She felt like her body was about to be raped.

"You would care more about the closeness of them emotionally than physically. And that's what scares you… us, the most."

Margaret began to struggle and scream at everything around her. Teragram continued to watch the three people in bed repeatedly attack each other passionately.

"You're scared to death of that emotional connection, cause that would mean that it's over. You won't have to search anymore to find your Mr. Right. And spending the rest of your life with that one and only guy… well… that is an absolutely **TERRIFYING** thought when you think about it, for anyone."

Margaret let out a loud scream at the top of her lungs.

_YOU'RE NOTHING_

Another cold shiver came over her, and she was outside in the middle of the street. The shadows and everything pertaining to them were gone, replaced with an angry traffic jam and cold weather.

"This is good coffee," the twin said as she sipped on her drink happily. "Honestly, I don't know why you decided to go along with that whole speaker thing. You're missing out on some great joe."

Margaret picked herself up from off the ground and stared angrily at Teragram. The fury she had for this woman was nothing short of deadly.

"Oh wait, that's right," she continued, "you've already had a Joe at one point in your life, haven't you?"

The girl began to snicker evilly at Margaret from her joke.

"You know," Margaret finally said, "in my experience, the ones who always dress like they have something to hide tend to be whores in my book."

Teragram took yet another sip of her coffee and looked at her own attire. While she did admit that the business casual thing did leave something up to the imagination, there was nothing whorish about her.

"No better than you dressing up to show off your chest."

Touché. Margaret could feel her eye twitch from this woman in front of her. She began to think of horrible ways to kill her, hoping that this creature would pry into her mind and see what she was thinking.

"With a red hot poker?" Teragram asked her. "Seriously?"

She rolled her eyes and continued to allow Margaret her thought games.

"Even you can make mistakes, Benson," a familiar voice said to the side of the two birds.

On cue, both of them turned to look in the direction the voice was coming from. There was Benson and Skips in the golf cart, trying to wait out this terrible traffic jam in front of them.

"Yeah, well… I should have thought better about it," Benson replied to his previous statement. He shivered unhappily and continued to find warmth in someway or another.

Margaret watched the gumball machine shake and chatter uncomfortably. She wondered what it must be like to be a creature that couldn't create its own heat. The bird already felt bad for Benson, but watching this just made her feel even worse. Her attention shifted to Skips, who was looking at Benson with concerned and caring eyes. His arm outstretched to his friend, and pulled the gumball machine into his fur.

Margaret smiled at the sense of care Skips had for his co-worker, and felt a little jealous in the process. So rarely did she see anybody in the park acknowledge each other in such a compassionate way.

"Well that's not true at all," Teragram coughed out.

"Quit spying on my brain," Margaret screamed out.

"But it's not true, and you know that. Everybody at that park acknowledges each other in the same caring sympathetic way: Mordecai and Rigby are best friends, Muscle Man and High Five Ghost are frat brothers, Skips and Benson are constantly working together, and Pops just loves everyone. But what about you?"

"What about me?" Margaret asked her.

Teragram gave a smug grin before continuing. "Yes, yes. What about poor ole Margaret. Well… she doesn't have anybody to fall back on when the chips are down. She didn't have anyone back at the coffee shop, why should she have anyone now? Sure there's Mordecai and Rigby, but…"

The woman lets out a low laugh.

"But they're doing their own thing, while poor Margaret goes around feeling like a third wheel. Isn't that sad? So how does Margaret counteract this…?"

"I'm on pins and needles," the robin said sarcastically to her copy.

"She seduces them! Makes a move on both of them, not just one, but both! That's the perfect way to make some friends… to fuck 'em!"

"You're sounding like a broken record at this point," Margaret snapped, as she began to lean against a nearby car. "Is that your insult for everything? That I'm a whore?"

"It's not an insult if it's true."

Margaret slammed her fist into the side of a car. She was getting tired of hearing the same thing over and over from this person.

Margaret peaked over at the golf cart again to get a good look at Benson and Skips. Her eyes grew worried when Benson had turned around and was staring directly at her. Teragram raised in eyebrow in confusion when she noticed it as well.

"Hmmm…" she moaned. "Can he see us? I swear that gumball machine is full of surprises. You know, I'm almost sure he and the yeti have something going on between them, but I got nothing to support that." The woman shrugged and then raised her hand into the air and snapped her fingers.

_YOU'LL NEVER BE ANYTHING_

The real robin sighed deeply as she took a look around herself. "Now where did you take me?"

They appeared to be somewhere that Margaret had never been to before. Her eyes began to examine the room to see where her clone had taken her. Small tables and desks were strewn around the area, far too small for any adult to fit in. Toys and games littered the corner of the room where several children played and talked amongst themselves. Colorful wallpaper and carpeting was placed around the floors and walls, giving it an extremely cheerful demeanor. Margaret had no doubt that she was in some sort of daycare center or a school.

The sounds of laughter and childish tears filled the room with a sense of innocence that Margaret smiled at. She always wanted to be a teacher of some sort, preferably to children. One of her favorite jobs growing up was babysitting. She always knew the right things to say to a small child to get them smiling.

"Ms. Maggie! Ms. Maggie!"

Margaret shook at the mention of her name suddenly. She looked down and saw a small girl, no older than five run up to her with tears running down her face and a teddy bear clutched under her arm. The girl quickly ran over to the red robin and tugged at her skirt to try and get the attention of the bird better.

"Skirt?" Margaret muttered as she adjusted the glasses on her beak. "Glasses?"

She took a quick glimpse of herself, top to bottom. She was wearing the exact same garb that Teragram was wearing earlier. The skirt, the jacket with shirt and tie, the glasses, everything that he doppelganger was wearing, she was now wearing herself.

"Ms. MARGWETT!"

"Huh, what?" Margaret said as she snapped back into reality, or what semblance of realism this place had. "I mean… um… what's wrong sweetie?"

She quickly adopted the nature of a caring parent. Whatever was happening, it was probably in her best interests to go along with it.

"M… M… M…"

Margaret knelt down so she could meet the child at her eye level. "You can tell me sweetie. What's the matter?"

"M… M… Mordecai's being mean again! He stole my crayons!"

"Morde… cai?" Margaret sputtered out slowly. The little girl in front of her nodded and pointed to the corner of the room where all the children were playing.

Suddenly, everyone was gone save for Margaret and a kid sitting at a small table, coloring on a piece of paper. The child was a small boy, maybe around five or six years old. He was covered in small developing blue and white feathers, and had a protruding black beak. The feathers on his head stuck up on two ends, giving him a specific characteristic. Margaret had no doubt in her mind.

"Mordecai?" she asked as she slowly approached the boy.

"What!" he snapped back in a childish manner.

Margaret was about to say something to test if this was the Mordecai she had grown to love, but didn't want to risk it. She was still stuck in this bizarre dream world, so she continued her façade as she walked up to the boy and sat down next to him.

"Mordecai, um…," she started trying to get a grip on the situation. She took a deep breath and tried to adopt the stern manner of a teacher. "So I heard you stole someone's crayons. Is this true?"

"No!"

Margaret chuckled at his sudden outburst and watched him color with obviously stolen crayons.

"Are you lying?" she asked with a little sympathy in her voice.

"No!"

"Mordecai…"

"I needed them, okay," he screamed at her.

Margaret felt slightly taken aback from him for a moment before resuming her composure. "You know stealing is wrong, right?"

"I wanted to draw some things though. For you."

"Really?" the woman asked. "Well how about this. I'll look at your drawing you made for me, if you apologize to the little girl you stole the crayons from. Okay?"

Mordecai nodded and set the black crayon in his hand down on the table. The drawings he was working on then slid over to Margaret without even moving. She picked them up without a moment's hesitation and looked at it.

The first one was what looked to be a crudely drawn version of Rigby and Margaret with the little child Mordecai. They were playfully walking hand in hand in some sort of color sunlight world where the sky was green and ground was orange. It put a smile on Margaret's face.

"I wanted to draw what it used to be like," the blue jay said quietly, "before you and dad broke up."

"Dad?" Margaret whispered to herself. In this world, Margaret and Rigby were married? And Mordecai was their son?

A cold shiver ran down Margaret's spine suddenly. Everything felt way off this time. What kind of world was this? This wasn't a world of Margaret's own creation. She took a quick glance around the room to see if Teragram was watching somewhere. The bitch wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Do you and dad hate me?" Mordecai ask her.

Margaret turned back to the boy to find him sobbing and crying up a storm. He brought his wings up to try and wipe away the tears, but it was futile. They just kept falling.

She quickly embraced the small boy in her arms and held him close to her chest. "No, no, no, no, no. We could never hate you Mordecai. You're the best thing that's ever happened to us."

A sort of pain stabbed at her chest when she realized what she just said. The man had basically killed her in cold blood, and there she was talking about how much she still cared for him. She sounded like a battered housewife. And yet, she knew what she had said was true. In some sick and demented way, she still cared about Mordecai the same way she always did.

"Really?" he asked her, crying into her chest.

"Really," she answered sincerely.

"Even after I killed you?" it said in deep echoing voice.

Margaret went wide eyed and looked down at the boy. He was dead in her arms, blood pouring out of every orifice on his body. She dropped the boy like a sack of bricks on the floor. Quickly looking around her self, the scenery had change, but it hadn't. She was still in the same room as before, but everything was no longer three dimensional. Everything looked as though it had been drawn by a child with crayons. Laughter began to fill the room; devilish, childish laughter that she wanted to stop.

"…mama… …mama… …mama…"

Margaret recognized those child like voices. They had been cemented from her mind, and she had no intention of hearing them ever again.

She ran across the room, toward a closed door that looked as though it was still vivid and three dimensional. The bird burst through the door and found herself in another still photo. The image consisted of the kitchen from the park house. Skips and Pops were overlooking the sick Benson, who was still in utter pain from his headaches at the time.

Margaret stopped to catch her breath, putting her hand on the table for stability as she processed everything.

"Hey," muttered a voice next to her.

She turned and saw the blue jay sitting in a chair holding up the other drawing he had made. It depicted every one of the park staff, dead and bloody, surrounding a happy little blue jay.

"Do you like it, mama?"

She fell through the floor suddenly as the sound of glass shattered all around her. Fear clouded her mind as the world around her went black as she plummeted.

_PATHETIC! PATHETIC! PATHETIC!_

Margaret hit an invisible floor hard, feeling every bone in her body break. Pain surged through her entire body as she struggled in futile to move. But every time she was successful in moving her body even an inch, a terrible hurt came over her. She was almost sure that Teragram was wrong, and that she was indeed in hell.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" a feminine voice asked from above. "You are not in hell!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE," Margaret screamed. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"I wish I could," Teragram said as she sat down next to Margaret. The woman was still in her teacher attire. Margaret did her best to tilt her head enough to get a good look at she was wearing herself. Her jacket and jeans combo had returned to her yet again.

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet," the clone continued as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a wrapped snack. She tore it open and took a big bite of her granola bar. "Sorry," she apologized to Margaret, "I haven't eaten anything all day."

"WHAT WAS THE POINT!" Margaret shrieked. "WHAT WAS THE POINT OF SHOWING ME THAT! OF SHOWING ME ANY OF THIS!"

"Showing you what?"

"UUUUUUUGH!"

"Oh, you mean the kindergarten. Isn't that what you always wanted to be?"

"STOP… IT!"

"You seem angry," Teragram smiled. "I don't know. What do you think Benson?"

_NO MAN WANTS TO LOVE YOU!_

And suddenly there was Benson, standing above them. Margaret had no idea where the scene had changed to. It seemed like an office of some sort actually. She couldn't get a good look around though since she was frozen in place. There was a quick flash of light as screams were heard in the distance. Margaret's head began to twist and stab in pain, forcing screams to release from her beak.

She convulsed in pain, trying to get away from it somehow. Teragram sat next to her, happily chewing away at her snack, no even acknowledging the pain that her counterpart was in. Margaret continued to shake, causing pain and stress all over her body. Finally, darkness filled the area again, and her body stopped convulsing.

"Feeling better?" Teragram said with a frown.

"Go… to… hell…" Margaret coughed.

"According to you, we're already there," the demon said with a growing grin. "So does that make me the devil, since, you know, you hate yourself?"

Margaret tried to move her body close enough to maybe tackle her somehow and smother the girl. No luck sadly, but something else caught her attention. It was in her jacket pocket. It shook slowly, and began to fall out of her pocket.

"What's this?" the clone asked as she looked at the jacket pocket as well.

Margaret tried to eye her pocket more intently, but all she could see what the shining top of whatever it was slowly protruding out of her pocket. She shook as much as she could, ignoring the pain that came with it in an attempt to force out whatever was in it. It popped out a few seconds later.

"Oh no," she muttered as it fell to the floor and began to roll away. "Oh god no…"

It rolled a few feet before losing its momentum and stopping completely. Teragram got on her hands and knees and crawled over to whatever had fallen out of the girl's pocket. She picked it up with her wings and examined it closely.

"Well, what do you know," the copy said with excitement, "what do you know…"

She held it up in the direction of Margaret, confirming the bird's fears of what it was. Teragram smiled hatefully as she held Benson's gumball in her hand.

**"…missing…"**

_"...gumball…"_

"…syndrome…"

"No no no no no," Margaret began to repeat to herself. "I forgot… I must of forgot…"

Teragram continued to smile as she looked at the gumball in her hand. She licked the top of her beak as she watched the ball shine and shimmer off some imaginary light in the darkness. Gradually, her smile turned into a chuckle, and then into full blown laughter.

"Give it back," Margaret muttered as she made an attempt to scoot her way over to her clone. "Give it back."

"I'll bet it must hurt right now," the monster giggled as she pocketed the gumball in her own pocket. "To realize that we were the reason Benson's in the hospital right now. Kind of confusing too. This is priceless. This is priceless. This is absolutely priceless!"

"Please stop this," Margaret continued to bargain, "please, please, please just stop this. I don't want to do this anymore. Just give me the gumball and let me go home."

"Oh, sweetie," Teragram bellowed sarcastically, "you are home."

_THEY DON'T WANT YOU_

The scene changed to the bedroom again. Margaret could suddenly feel the warmth of something on top of her again. She hoped it wasn't this crazy woman playing with her emotions again, but she knew she wasn't going to be that lucky.

She knew what they were though. She could feel the soft and furry arms of Rigby, draped over her belly, and the delicate wings of Mordecai cuddling her into him. They weren't breathing or showing any signs of life. They were both dead. Margaret didn't want to even try to look at their faces or bodies to see how Teragram made it looked like they had died.

"Isn't this home to you?" she asked quietly. "Being with the people you love the most. Through life and death?"

"I don't want this anymore…" Margaret sobbed.

Teragram huffed out a chuckle. "If you're this easily broken, then you'll never save him."

Margaret continued to stare up at the ceiling. She closed her eyes and began to count to ten again, hoping once and for all she would wake up from this foul dream.

1…

2…

3…

4…

5…

6…

7…

8…

9…

10…

Her eyes opened, and she was in the darkness again. Teragram loomed over her visibly, with a sad expression on her face.

"All the others never wanted us," she said solemnly as tears began to roll down her face. "But the other two… they did." She faded away a second later, the gumball in her pocket falling to the floor again, bouncing a few times before stopping suddenly on the ground.

Margaret was once again left with only herself and her thoughts. The bird could feel her body heal and her strength return, so she sat up from the ground.

She thought about her clone. Teragram… her own name spelled backwards. She was cold and calculating in nature, wearing everything to seem as professional as possible. The woman saw things in a conservative and serious matter, but at the same time, had no problem gaining joy from her own faults. She was in love with someone unlike herself, but in many ways the same as well. More so than a certain other somebody.

"So you were me then?" Margaret asked herself. "Or maybe what I always wanted to be?"

Margaret felt her head shock in a headache. All of this was confusing and nonsensical. She still didn't know what the point of any of this was. What was it that Teragram said? She said that she could save him. Was she referring to Mordecai… or Rigby? Where was she anyways? She picked up the gumball and looked at it closely before sticking it back into her jacket pocket.

As much as she wanted to run away, there something in her that wanted to see this madness to the very end. A door lay in front of her, decorated with childish drawings, teenage keep sakes, and adult memories. A triangular doorknob stood between her and the end.

She walked forward, and opened the door.

_Between Breaths (an XX perspective) – Blaqk Audio_

* * *

_We can't go back... It's gone too far..._

_Adieu…_


	26. Blow Back

_Regular Show created by JG Quintell._

_Staring…_

_Mordecai the bluejay_

_and_

_Rigby the raccoon_

_Also staring…_

_Benson the gumball machine_

_Margaret the red robin_

_Pops the naïve man from Lolliland_

_Skips the yeti_

_Mitch Sorenstein the Muscle Man_

_And introducting…_

_High Five Ghost as Himself_

**Tonight's Episode:**

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

**Blow Back**

**Written by DemiHuman**

**Produced and Directed by Inganno**

"_Triangles" was filmed in front of a live studio audience"_

_(Light's draw up, audience applauds)_

The stage is set for that of a grand adventure today! The park house is lively as always, with Benson and the rest of the staff preparing for a full day ahead of them.

"Alright everyone, listen up" Benson said as he stepped out into the living room, featuring a full set of exciting characters already there. "Mr. Maelard's going to be visiting us tonight for dinner, so we need to make sure that everything goes smoothly if we want to keep our jobs."

"Ugh," Margaret sighed unhappily, "Mr. Maelard again? I don't like him."

"Neither do I," High Five Ghost cooed as he floated around the room, "last time he was here, he called me a waste of good breathing air."

"Good thing you don't breath," Benson said with a smile.

_(audience laughter)_

"Papa, isn't so bad," Pops comments the group. "He has a good heart. I remember when I was a child he used to take me horse back riding on the most beautiful ponies I ever did see. Such magical creatures, and I wore the most wonderfully gorgeous pink riding outfit ever."

"Pops," Benson groaned at his boss, "that was last week."

_(audience laughter)_

"But listen," the gumball machine continued, "we need to make sure this dinner is perfect."

"Don't worry Benson," Margaret said waving her hand at him, "it'll be alright! You can count on all of us."

"Yeah," Skips said in a monotone voice, "we'll be on our best behavior."

Benson sighed once again before continuing. "I know that. It's not you all I'm worried about."

The front door suddenly bursts open as a tall blue jay with a raccoon on his head appear.

"OOOoooooooh!" they both scream in the most roaring manner possible.

_(audience ovation)_

"That's what I'm worried about," Benson said as he gritted his teeth angrily.

_(audience laughter)_

_(audience laughter)_

_(audience laughter)_

_We_

_Aren't_

_Finished_

_Here_

_Yet…_

* * *

Rigby's eyes shot open, his body shaking and jumping in an instant as he regained consciousness. He let out a quick scream, his hands searching his body for holes, or gashes, or debris from the house. He found nothing. In fact, his body had healed up quite nicely in the time he was asleep.

"Wait," he realized looking around himself. "Where am I?"

It took him a moment to process that he was in the park house. He was in his bedroom to be more precise. That was the last place he was at actually, before…

The raccoon took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. He was absolutely sure that his body became a pin cushion for all the wood and carnage that flew around the room with Mordecai and the vortex. Was all of that a dream? Was he so worried about his friend that he collapsed from stress? That didn't sound like him. Rigby wasn't the kind of person to faint or swoon or anything like that. How bizarre…

"Dude," whispered a voice from the bed.

Rigby's eyes shot over there in a flash. He needed answers, and anybody who could even give him a false one sounded good to him. But instead, he was greeted with a much happier site. Mordecai lay in bed with the covers over him, looking on with half opened eyes filled with sleep at Rigby.

"Did you fall out of bed, again?" he asked, clutching some pillow in his hand. "C'mon dude."

Rigby wasn't sure what was going on. Could it be that the whole series of events was nothing more than a dream? He didn't see Margaret around an**Y**where, and nothing was suggesting she even had ever lived there. Rigby needed to see if any of this was making any sense.

"Where's Margaret?" the raccoon asked his friend speedily.

"Who?" Mordecai groaned. "Who's Margaret?"

Who's Margaret? That didn't sound like Mordecai at all. Even the mere mention of the woman's name was enough to send the blue jay into a romantic tizzy.

"You know, Margaret," Rigby exclaimed, "the red robin who works at the coffee shop, you have a thing for her, and then she started working at the park, and we all did things, and…"

"Dude, you were having a dream," Mordecai yawned, bring his wing to his mouth. "Get back in bed."

The small animal l**O**oked down at the floor and tried to think through what was happening. Everything about this place seemed so V-i-V-i-D, so r-E-a-L. Could it be that everything that he had gone through the past few months, maybe years, was nothing but a delusional nightmare? Rigby wasn't sure what to think, but obliged the bird on his offer.

He crawled into the bed slowly, but cautiously, still shaking from the bizarre dream he had awoken from. The raccoon was half into the bed when wings swooped him down and brought him close to blue feathers.

"So Rigby," Mordecai began as he cuddled with his friend, "tell me about this Margaret chick. Was I seriously straight for her or something? You worried I might switch teams?"

Rigby bl**U**shed, suddenly feeling familiar with the situation, like hidden memories were coming back to him. They felt nice. He nuzzled into the blue jay's feathers happily, trying to get comfortable.

"No…," Rigby sighed contently, "just… worried I might lose you."

He looked up at Mordecai's face and gave him a quick kiss. It felt warm. It was that perfect type of warmth: The kind that sent shivers down your body, but made your face fluster in heat. Rigby pulled away a second later, happy with what he got. This was perfect, he thought. Everything did work out. All he had to do to get what he wanted was wake up.

**Was wake up…**

_Was wake… up…_

Was… wake… up…

Rigby's eyes shot open, his body shaking and jumping in an instant as he regained consciousness. He let out a quick scream, his hands searching his body for holes, or gashes, or debris from the house. He found nothing. In fact, his body had healed up quite nicely in the time he was asleep.

He glanced around the room. Wasn't he in the bedroom a second ago? Why was he suddenly downstairs on the couch in front of a static filled TV? He felt he wasn't alone, and turned his head to see himself, or at least someone who he thought was himself.

This other him wore a striped tie around his neck, much like the one he owned. On each of his wrists were several multi**C**olored bands each with a word spelling out a full sentence on each arm:

_HE LOVES ME  
HE LOVES ME NOT_

His left ear held several hoop earrings pierced into his flesh. The raccoon licked his lips, revealing a tongue stud behind his mouth. He smiled happily as he looked at Rigby.

"Ybgir," he said with a wink, "if that's what you want to call me. You were about to ask who I was, right? You may also call me the hottest piece of tail in the room."

Rigby cocked an eyebrow at this man in front of him.

"But you know," the raccoon clone continued, "you come a pretty damn close second, if you do say so yourself."

"Who are you?" Rigby asked, feeling a little thre**A**tened by this person.

"Oh c'mon, man," Ybrig moaned, "do I really have to reintroduce myself again? Ugh…"

The copy stood up on the couch and bowed gracefully. "My name is Ybgir. It's a pleasure to meet you at long last Rigby, even if we've already technically met."

Rigby rolled his eyes at the greeting. It was remarkable that this person who carries the same face as him can be just as, if not more, narcissistic than himself.

"Now that introductions are finished," the clone said, "I have a question for you."

"What?" Rigby asked with a grimace.

Ybgir smiled lustfully and lunge forward to tackle the raccoon to the couch. "Is it considered masturbation if I fuck myself?"

Rigby went wide eyed at the question and the serious look that his doppelganger was giving him. He quickly turned and threw the raccoon off of him as fast as he could.

"Well you're no fun," Ybgir complained from the floor. "But I guess that means neither am I," he continued as he picked himself up from off the floor and stared at his original.

"What the H is that supposed to mean?" Rigby asked in annoyance.

Ybgir hopped back up onto the couch next to his cou**N**terpart and smiled intently. "I gotta spell it out for you, don't I? I'm you… well… a different part of you anyways."

Rigby leaned away from this person in disbelief. This person was supposed to be a part of him? That made him laugh in his belly more than anything else he had ever encountered in his whole life. This person seemed a little too… forward. And while Rigby was pretty forward himself, he was never really this bad.

"Yeah, you aren't me," Rigby said unhappily. "You look like me, but that's it."

The doppelganger continued to smile with content as he began to slowly crawl his way over to the raccoon. Rigby responded by backing himself away at a faster pace. The extra raccoon stopped crawling to watch the original back up and eventually hit the side of the couch. They both stared at each other: One with intent, and the other with panic.

"Well I guess if I look like you, it should make it easier for you to fuck me, right?" Ybgir said in almost a whimper.

Rigby sat there feeling disgusted at the question proposed to him. "WHAT!"

"C'mon…," the clone begged, "I'm in the mood right now, and no one else is around who wants to take advantage of me. And believe you and me when I say there are a lot of people out there who want to stick it in me."

The room than burst into a loud symphony of audience laughter, complete with lust filled giggles and hootin' and hollerin', that send the original raccoon into an uncomfortable state. He remained in his spot for a moment or two, taking in this person's little speech and perverted laughter before actually giving a reaction. "Right," he sighed, "we're done here."

The original Rigby took in a deep breath and jumped off the couch, dashing into the kitchen in the process. The back door was just barely cracked open. He smiled, happy he wouldn't have to waste time fiddling with the lock while being pursued by this pervert. The raccoon opened the door leading outside, stepped out of the house, and fell into total darkness.

A minute later of falling through nothingness, his face slammed on**T**o the grassy ground. He laid still for a few seconds trying to piece together how any of this could get any worse. He sat up and looked around the area to get a better scope.

Grass, grass, and more grass. A plain of grass as far as the eye could see. If Rigby were a different kind of person, he might have thought the open field to look almost beautiful and tranquil. Instead, he found his heart facing a low fear growing in his belly as he observed his surroundings. He wasn't even sure that made any sense. What direction did he need to go? Don't most people usually go north? Which direction was north again?

As Rigby pondered all of us this, he began to hear the pitter patter of footsteps coming up from behind him. He figured it was his clone, chasing after him. The raccoon turned sharply around, and was tackled suddenly to the ground.

"Gotcha," a voice yelled as they pounced on Rigby.

Instead of being enveloped by fur, he found himself surrounded by red and white feathers. He observed his assailant carefully and realized who it was.

"Margaret," he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

The robin quickly grabbed him into her arms, stood up, and placed the raccoon over her shoulders. "You looked bored," she said with a content grin, "so I thought I'd come cheer you up."

Looked bored? He just fell out of the sky and onto an infinite field of green, and the only thing she's there for is to brighten up his day and make him feel active and excited?

"I'm not bored," the raccoon said, "I'm freaked out! There was this raccoon who looked just like me, and he was trying to fool around with me, and then Mordecai was all cuddly, and he had no idea who you were…"

"Calm down," Margaret told him with a smile, "you were probably having a bad dream or something."

"Bad dream! Look around you Margaret, this isn't the park, it's… somewhere I don't know, but it's definitely not the park."

The sudden feeling of fingers scratching against the back of his neck put him at ease, as Margaret began to relax the raccoon slowly.

"Well don't worry," she reassured him, "we'll get back to the park somehow."

"I hope," Rigby cooed trying to enjoy the feeling in his state of crisis.

They both remained at that spot enjoying the moment they were having.

"Hey Rigby," Margaret started, an odd look coming over her face. "Who's Mordecai?"

_Who's Mordecai…?_

_Who's Mordecai…?_

_Who's Mordecai…?_

_Who's Mordecai…?_

_Who's Mordecai…?_

_Who's Mordecai…?_

_Who's Mordecai…?_

_Who's Mordecai…?_

**Who's here?**

**It sure looks like it's me…**

"Oh hello again," Ybgir said as he took another sip of his soda. "You just came in on the best part."

Rigby he**S**itated for a moment, trying to put the pieces together again. Gone was the wide open plains and Margaret, replaced with an empty movie theater, save for one patron. His double sat happily in the back row of the theater with a king sized bucket of popcorn in one arm and a soda perched in the other.

Rigby wasn't particularly happy to see this goon again, but it was at least becoming more clear to him that this place wasn't real. Whatever dream world he had fallen into wasn't going to let him out so easily. He figured the key to getting out of here might be the person in front of him. Perhaps he had no choice but to hang around this copycat, and hope that he'll find a way out.

"Sure, why not?" Ybgir answered the raccoon unconsciously.

"What? I didn't say anything," Rigby said with slight confusion.

"No, but you were thinking it," the other animal said. "So I'll go ahead and do it."

"Do what?"

"If you hang out with me for a little while, I'll let you go. Hell, I'll even tell you where Mordecai is if you want to s**A**ve him so badly."

"Mordecai!" Rigby cried. "You know where he is?"

The copy gave a sly grin before answering. "I know exactly where he is. In fact, I'm there right now. The three of us are just hanging out right now."

"Three?"

"You'll see soon enough," the other raccoon said happily. "But don't worry about that right now."

He patted the seat next him, implying the original raccoon to come sit down next to him. "Come hang out!"

Rigby sighed and sat down next to his doppelganger, hoping that this play date they were on would end as quickly as possible. Ybgir offered his classic some popcorn, but the raccoon refused.

"It's got extra butter," the colorful raccoon tempted him, shaking the bucket playfully.

The promise of extra butter did seem pretty appetizing actually, but Rigby continued to refuse the man's hospitality. He didn't trust anything that came from this world.

The man shrugged and sho**V**ed some of the junk food into his mouth. "Suit yourself," he said with a full mouth. "And here I thought you liked hot salty things going down your throat."

Rigby frowned at the raccoon, unhappy with what he just said, but coming to terms with the fact he won't be getting out of here unless he "hung out" with him. Hopefully, the clone won't try to come on to him again. Rigby tried not to think about it and focused his attention on the movie screen in front of him. Maybe a movie, no matter if it was good or bad, would be enough to ease his mind of tension.

Margaret and Mordecai were on the screen, talking to each other in the living room on the couch. Rigby knew that the birds on the screen weren't his original friends, but were just carbon copies meant to gauge Rigby's reactions. The raccoon had seen enough horror movies to know what this psychopath was trying to pull. He obviously had a thing for mind games. Rigby tried to ignore it anyways and watched the screen closely, expecting some kind of horror to come out and kill them.

"They're cute, don't ya think?" Ybgir said suddenly, nudging his associate.

Rigby didn't say anything, just keeping to himself and praying that this little event would end as soon as possible.

"C'mon," the double nudged, "you can tell me."

Rigby continued to say nothing.

"It's not like I don't know already. I know everything about you, remember. I'm you."

"YOU ARE NOT ME," Rigby screamed at the imposter. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

A large audible gasp erupted from the speakers of the cinema. Rigby turned his attention back to the screen. Mordecai and Margaret w**E**re in the middle of seducing each other, kissing and caressing each other, trying to see who can get the other to moan the loudest.

"Remember when this kind of stuff made you sad?" Ybgir muttered with a lustful grin. The imitator put his drink and snack on the seat next to him and lean back to enjoy the show. "Remember when the thought of the two of them together just got your blood boiling?"

Rigby took a gulp of air and continued to watch the two people on screen make out, and prepare them selves for the act. Now was one of the rare times in which Rigby was glad the motion pictures rating system existed. If this were a real movie, he would have already left by now. Anatomy and the acts that were best kept behind closes doors were being shown in excruciating high definition detail, leaving the raccoon uneasy. Now most sex scenes in film didn't bother him, but between the two people on the screen...

"But not now," the doppelganger continued, "shit like this turns you on. You should see the look on your face. You're scared, but you're not looking away. It's exciting isn't it?"

Rigby wanted to look away, but the two of them on screen, the twists and turns their bodies made, the sound that escaped their beaks… they were very much enticing. It sickened himself thinking that these things actually excited him, so he turned away from them. He wished he hadn't, because what he saw next made him feel worse.

Ybgir was leaning back in his seat, a lusting glare in his eyes as he watched the screen. One of his paws gently petted the fur on his chest, sending small s**H**ivers of joy through his body, while his other hand moved in a slow rhythmic motion around his shame.

Rigby quickly darted his eyes toward the ground. Too many disturbing images were all around him, and he didn't want to see a single one.

"Mmmm," moaned his clone. "Those are some tail feathers you wouldn't mind ruffling, am I right?"

Rigby held his ears down trying to avoid the sights and sounds all around him. It was getting pretty difficult.

"You're thinking about it right now," a voice from inside the raccoons head said, "how much do you want them? Do you want them both? Do you just want one? Which one would you rather have?"

The small man began taking deep breaths, trying to block it all out. He could do that, right? All he had to do was ignore it and make sure it didn't get to him on a personal level. He could just do what he did in the past with stuff he didn't want to deal with about himself.

"So you admit it is about yourself, eh?"

"…stop it…Stop It…STOP IT!"

**Closer**

**To**

**The**

**Source**

**Of**

**The**

**Pain**

"You are really doing your best to ignore me aren't you?" Ybgir sighed, playing with his wrist bands as he stood in front of the raccoon.

Rigby's eyes opened and he looked around himself. Where was this? He cursed under his breath when he grasped that he was once again in the bedroom. Thankfully, the bed and the room were empty this time.

"I HATE BEING IGNORED," the copy shrieked, causing a tinge of pain to jump into Rigby's head. "God knows you've ignored me long enough…"

"Would you shut the H up and let me go already?" Rigby finally spoke. "I hung out with you, I'm done!"

"Whoop-de-doo, for a whole five minutes," the pervert said sarcastically, "I'm not done with you yet."

Rigby began to grit his teeth together and look for a way out. The door leading out into the hallway, and the windows were open letting a sunny world inside too. He had plenty of options.

"Oh no," Ybgir snapped, "you're not trying that again."

The room shook and an eer**I**e cold filled the air. The door shut and chained it self up, and the windows were closed and nailed down while the glass was painted black in a flash, keeping any light from entering. Now Rigby and his "friend" were stuck in a darkened room.

"Let me out," Rigby screamed out into the room.

No answer from the darkness.

"LET ME OUT!"

His pleads and cries were left unanswered as he was left in the room with no one to help him. Rigby began to feel around himself for some sort of item to hold on to. His balance in the dark had been halved and he needed some sort of support. Something soft and fluffy enveloped his hands. He tugged on it a couple of times, feeling it pull loosely toward him. The bed! He must have found the bed.

Rigby climbed into it and ducked himself under the sheets. The panic and fear in his gut was rising with every second and the only thing he wanted at that moment was to get out of there and find Mordecai or Margaret. Was Margaret even here? The real Margaret? Could the same be said about Mordecai?

The feeling of feathers began to cover his body from underneath the sheets. They were all over him, quiet moans and groans erupting as they slowly and softly touched the fur, hoping for a reaction out of the raccoon. He shooed them away, flailing his ar**M**s and legs in different directions to bat them off. They disappeared momentarily as he "attacked" them, only to have more show up to replace the beaten ones.

"Don't they feel good?" Ybgir's voice muttered from everywhere. "Didn't we always want to know what feathers really felt like?"

"STOP!"

And the feeling was gone, replaced with nothing but the darkness and the safety of Rigby's blanket. He rolled around the sheets into a cocoon, keeping everything tight and secure. If anyone tried to get in, he would know it. He thought about trying to actually fall asleep, but was afraid to wake up next to a fake Mordecai or Margaret, or worse, his own imitation. He could wait it out, he thought.

"You know what I think is funny?" Ybgir's asked from within the raccoon's head. "It's that you are the most impatient person in the world for everything, except when it comes to your feelings. You know what you want, but you don't want to pursue it."

Rigby tried to think about something different. Something that might take his mind off of everything that was going on around him. He couldn't think of anything though.

"You're too scared. Too scared of being rejected, too scared of not getting it, too scared of actually getting it. You're just scared of the basic idea of it."

The raccoon began to rock back and forth.

"And yet… you constantly think about it. You wanted to know what the feeling of feathers against your fur is like. You want to know what a kiss from your best friend is like. You want to know what a kiss from a female robin is like. You want to know if they are lovable, if you're even lovable."

The copy chuckled suddenly, toying with Rigby's mind. "You're confuuuuuuuused. You waaaaaaaaant to try those things, you neeeeeeeeeeed it."

Rigby could hear the sound of heavy breathing begin all around him.

"You sit there alone in bed, wondering things you never thought you would think. Wonderful things that you don't want to admit you might like."

Someone was outside Rigby's fortress, trying to unravel him.

"Don't you want him? How long have you wanted him? He actually cares about you… and what do you do? You do nothing, only giving him kisses and hugs to satisfy his basic needs. She seems to do a better job with satisfying his needs. You know, I think she probably does a better job satisfying your own needs."

The tightened sheets around him drew loose, and Rigby began to shake and shiver. There was light coming in through the cracks outside the blanket.

"I don't understand why you still like him," Ybgir muttered. "He basically killed you in a painful and an extremely excruciatingly painful matter. Honestly? I think you'd be better off with the red one than the blue one. At least she's half way sane."

Rigby covered his ears, once again in hopes of drowning the monster out.

"It's good… I promise. See for yourself…"

The sheets were ripped from his grasp, and a blinding light took him over.

**Mirror **_Mirror_

**Yours **_Yours_

He found himself in the theater again, empty and by himself. The raccoon sat in a chair in the back of the theater, watching a movie reel go by on the screen in front of him. The image in front of him showed himself and Mordecai, in the same pornographic situation as the bird and Margaret early.

Rigby wanted to turn away from the film and run, but something stopped him. He could feel Ybgir inside his head, manipulating what he should be feeling and seeing.

He saw himself on the screen, mouth enclosed around his friend's private area. Moving slowly, listening intently to the sounds the bird was releasing. A wing shakily was placed on the raccoon's head, and he continued to bob in Mordecai's lap.

The real Rigby watched the images on the screen pass by, something inside him building up again. He could feel one of his paws caress his chest, hoping that it would be enough to sooth his ache. But it wasn't enough. He needed the release. He couldn't keep it down anymore. The lust inside of him was too great to suppress this time. His other hand unconsciously reached down and grabbed himself. He could have sworn he heard Ybgir laughing somewhere in the back of his mind.

His body began to work on its own, knowing the motions and the feelings, like he had known many times before when all alone. Rigby could feel the little jolts of pleasure course from his pelvis all the way through his body as he pumped his hand in quick motions. His body was approaching the release too fast. The more he looked at the screen, the most his mind began to play tricks on him. He wanted to be in that position, to do those things to Mordecai. And those sounds the blue jay was making; they were sending him faster over the edge.

Rigby picked up the pace, feeling a slight glimpse of embarrassment in his head. But the physical and mental sensations that were flowing all over him quickly dismissed that emotion, leading him to work faster to his goal. He let out a gasp every now and then when that occasional shock of joy shot through him like a bullet. His other paw clawed at his chest and belly, adding to the sensation overall.

What's more, it seemed that the image on the screen was going along with him, moving faster and faster as he too picked up the pace of his self pleasure. Even Mordecai was letting out more than his fair share of gasps and moans, trying to match the exact moment with Rigby.

It was beginning to happen. Rigby could feel his release coming stead fast, and by the amounts of yelping coming out of Mordecai's mouth on the screen, so did he. Rigby closed his eyes, as the inside of his body began to bubble. He held it in for as long as he good, trying to keep the sensation in check for as long as possible. The raccoon had forgotten how pleasurable those final moments were.

His mouth fell agape as his body couldn't hold back any longer. Something happened at that moment though. His lips suddenly felt tight, and pursed. Something filled up in his mouth a second later. Rigby's eyes open, finding him self pressed against Mordecai's lap, his mouth filled with the man as well as his seed. The final wave over took him though as he felt his body break loose, the feeling overtaking his body in light pin needle stabs of ecstasy. He felt his hand get covered in himself, and all over the covers underneath him. The raccoon tried to let out a small scream of release, but his mouth was too full to make it audible, getting stuck in his throat.

Rigby released his mouth's hold over his partner's member, and wiped his lips. Ybgir's grasp over his mind was gone, and the realization of what had happened sunk into Rigby's skin.

"Dude," Mordecai panted quietly. The bird let out a couple of exasperated breaths before turning his attention back to Rigby. "So, uh… are you alright?"

Things went blurry, like the movie was going out of focus. Rigby reached out to Mordecai with his hand, but couldn't quite get there in time. He found himself falling again.

"He cares about you," Ybgir said from out of nowhere. "Everyone cares about you. You know that, right?"

Rigby didn't need to be told that. He already knew it. Just like he already knew that the clone was nothing more than his love and lust for people he cares about the most. In that moment, Rigby knew he wanted to be more than just happy. He knew that there were other's besides Mordecai that loved him just as much.

The raccoon smiled at his friend and rushed up to embrace him.

**I'm**

**Not**

**Myself**

**My**

**God**

**What**

**Have**

**You**

**Done?**

The world changed around him. Rigby once again found himself caught in the middle of the darkness. He spied the area around himself haphazardly, still feeling drained from the events that had just transpired.

"You'll let me out every now and then," Ybgir said sadly. "Won't you?"

Silence filled up the darkness again, and Rigby was by himself once more. He didn't know what to think of his copy or if he should take his advice and let his feelings out once in a while toward the people he cared about. But he knew that he was there, and that was enough for him.

Rigby thought that maybe he should stop being so clingy to everyone. Maybe he should stop being scared of the idea of love and how much it can hurt. That's what all of this was about, wasn't it?

"Mordecai?" Rigby muttered as a door appeared in front of him. It was a strange looking door, decorated with childish drawings, teenage keep sakes, and adult memories. A triangular doorknob stood between him and the end.

He walked forward and opened the door.

* * *

_Blow Back – Akira Yamaoka and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn_

_One last thing to do... before we say adieu..._

_One thing left to find... before we say goodbye..._

_Turn the knob, and see how it ends..._


	27. Growing Wings

**T**

**R**

**I**

**A**

**N**

**G**

**L**

**E**

**S**

**Final Chapter**

**Growing Wings**

* * *

**Crimson lights the sky**

**The bird still asleep**

**Like a dream it shines**

**From heaven's safe keep**

**Children's songs we sung**

**As soft as the breeze**

**Endless fields, our home**

**I long for those days**

The doors opened into a wasteland. Everything that surrounded the two of was dead or dying. Trees had become splintered and broken, while the grass beneath their feet had turn brown, and crumbled beneath their feet with each step they took. It was the park. Or at least whatever was left of it. Nothing in the park was the same anymore. The bright colors and calm demeanor of the park were gone, in favor of a colorless landscape that held nothing but contempt for life all around them. Even the sky was cloudy and a gloomy grey. Both Margaret and Rigby were too enamored by the sight of their former home to notice they were standing next to each other.

"Margaret!"

"Rigby!"

They both smiled happily at the sight of one another before making their way toward the middle to meet.

"Rigby," Margaret screamed, "I thought you were dead!"

"I thought I was dead too," Rigby replied running on all fours toward her.

They both then stopped halfway there, realizing that the person in front of them might not be who they believed they are. The two sized each other up and grew skeptical.

"Are you the real Rigby?" Margaret asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know," the raccoon shrugged. "Are you the real Margaret?"

The robin let out a low and annoyed grunt. "No more asking questions with questions, please! My head hurts already from this place."

That was all Rigby needed to hear in order to prove that the woman standing in front of him was the real Margaret. He quickly jumped over to her leg, climbed up her back, and gave her a quick kiss on the beak.

"Oh," Margaret let out, being taken slightly a back. "What was that for?"

"Cause, umm…" Rigby started with a slight blush coming over his face. "I like ya."

The bird let a sincere smile spread over her face. It made her happy to see Rigby open up a little bit to her. Those were her favorite moments with the raccoon.

She grabbed the animal in her wings and hugged him tight. "I like ya too, little man."

"Little man?" the raccoon said in questioning manner.

"Yeah," Margaret laughed, surprised that she was even smiling at all. "If Mordecai gets to call you 'dude', why can't I call you 'little man'?"

Rigby remained there in the hug thinking about it. "Little man, huh? I like it. It makes me sound like a force to be reckoned with."

"Well you are!"

They both laughed, enjoying the closeness of their embrace. Rigby eventually let go of her and climbed back down onto the ground.

"So why are you in a good mood?" the furry animal asked.

"Oh, a lot of things," Margaret answered with a smile. "Mostly because I met my double who turned out to be an inner part of my psyche that told me to stop acting like so much of a whore."

Rigby blinked at her, shocked that she went through the same thing he did.

"What about you?" she asked.

"Same thing," Rigby responded, "'cept mine told me to be a little more of one."

"Seriously?" Margaret said unbelieving.

"Well," the man coughed, "act a little more romantic anyways."

"That sounds more like it."

They both laughed at each other again, happy to see each other in better moods. It didn't take long after that for their attentions to shift back to the world all around them.

"Check this place out, girl," Rigby said in awe as he looked around the dead park some more.

"Yeah," Margaret replied crossing her arms and staring in all directions. "It's all kinds of creepy."

"It's awesome though," the raccoon countered with a smile. "It's like a really cool horror movie."

"And what happens to people like us in horror movies with places like this?" the bird sighed.

Rigby's mind stumbled to think, and began to look behind himself repeatedly for some sort of dark and terrible monster lurking to end him. "Let's ummm… let's keep moving."

Margaret agreed, and they both started to walk.

The place seemed so different and yet perfectly familiar at the same time. This wasn't like a season or weather change. Everything looked dead and drained from its original form. The ground beneath the duo crunched and cracked as they took each step forward. They saw a tree in the distance still looking full of life and color. As they passed it, the leaves lost their shade of green and fell to the ground in an instant, leaving the tree naked and bare.

They noticed smoke bellowing off in the distance, and made a mad dash toward the cause of it and found Skips house on fire. The fire raged eternally, never destroying, but never stopping. Life size dolls of Skips and Pops lay on the front porch, ignited in flames. A tree next to the shack carried the dolls of Muscle Man and High Five Ghost, both of them showing signs of death as well. The green doll was hanging silently from the tree with a noose around its neck, with the doll of the ghost impaled with several pieces of metal piping stuck into the tree bark. Between the tree and the shack was the Benson doll. His head was missing as the body lay limp on the ground, surrounded by broken glass and gumballs.

"This can't be good," Margaret said looking slightly mortified at the situation.

Rigby didn't say anything, choosing to keep his mouth shut this time. He wished he could say that the situation looked cool, and that it still had the feeling of an awesome horror movie, but his mind was too trapped in panic, fear, and shock to even acknowledge those thoughts. Horror movies certainly seemed different when you became a character in one.

"Let's keep moving," the bird said as she looked away from the site.

They continued on, refusing to turn back and look at the burning shack just one more time. They had to find Mordecai and get out of there. That was the one thing that weighted heavy on both their minds.

The more they continued to walk, the stranger the imagery got: stone statues of children playing around the park, shadows that moved along the ground with no physical body supporting them, bizarre sounds coming from all directions. Neither Margaret nor Rigby enjoyed going deeper into the park and witnessing these strange events, but they knew that they had to.

Finally, they reached the center of the park. The house they once called home was before them, looking dilapidated and worn down. Pieces of the roof were sliding off and hitting the ground with full force. All the windows were broken, with some of the frames and window sills falling apart. Steps were missing from the porch, and dead ivy had grown all over the bottom of the house, stretching up a few feet, ready to pull the house down deep into hell.

At the top of the steps sat someone. He kept his body close to himself, covered up in a pitch black hoodie with the hood pulled up over his face. Margaret and Rigby saw the beak protruding from the hood, and knew exactly who it was. They both dashed up the stairs, stopping every so often to pull their feet out of a broken step.

"Mordecai," they yelled as they reached the top step.

"We were worried sick," Margaret added as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

A powerful electrical shock surged through her as her hand touched the hoodie. She pulled it away and took a few steps back from him.

"What in the…?" the woman gasped.

Rigby tried to put his hand the blue jay's leg, and was gifted with the same reaction. "Dude, that hurt!"

Mordecai twitched for a half second with each touch. Margaret and Rigby looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Something wasn't right. Then again, what wasn't right at that point?

"Mordecai," the raccoon began in a caring voice. "Let's go home. Let's just go back to the way things were before."

Margaret nodded quickly. "I'm with Rigby on this one. Lets just go home, talk about everything, and just go back to being friends… friends on heavy medication. How does that sound?"

Mordecai didn't move. He continued to look down from beneath his hood.

"Bro, listen to us," Rigby yelled as grabbed the hood and forced it down.

Margaret cried out when the hood came down as she saw what was underneath. Rigby didn't notice at first, rubbing his hand from the shock he received. But when he turned to look at his friends face, he jumped back as well.

No eyes. Mordecai had no eyes. There wasn't even any eye sockets there. It was just a smooth flat area of feathers.

The ground shook beneath Margaret and Rigby suddenly. The duo looked out into the distance of the park and noticed the whole area had gone quiet. Something was about to happen. And whatever it was, it was coming at them fast.

"Rigby," Margaret said as she noticed the slowly rising dust trail in the distance. "Grab Mordecai and get inside."

She didn't have to tell him twice. He was already carefully dragging the remains of the bird through the front door, doing his best not to get shocked in the process. Margaret followed in after him slamming the door shut, and locking it tight.

"What do we do?" Rigby asked as he hoisted the blue jay up on the couch, his hands hurting from the voltage.

Margaret looked around the house for a plan. "I'm gonna try to cover up all the windows and try to block the doors. You see if you can snap Mordecai out of it."

"Do we even know if this is the real Mordecai?" the raccoon asked in a rush.

"Do you have any better ideas?" the female avian asked as she looked around the house for equipment. The raccoon couldn't think of a better battle plan, so he returned to the bird he hoped was his friend to try and snap him out of his trance.

Margaret jumped through the house, from room to room, searching for anything she could use to board up the windows and block the doors: furniture, book cases, fallen wood and debris, tables, chairs, large portraits, anything. She cursed at the world when she couldn't find any hammer or nails either, making an already difficult task even more so.

Maybe something upstairs would help her. She quickly turned on a heel and ascended the staircase up to the second floor. All the rooms were empty though, and pretty torn apart. This did not sit well with her. All the windows in the second floor were broken too, and the entire wall of their bedroom had been ripped out. She ran back out into the hallway, trying to think of something to do with the upstairs. Maybe she could just board up and block the bedroom door? Could that buy them even a little time? God knows what was coming. It may not even be able to climb up to the second floor. But what if it did? She was beginning to panic.

"Worried about something?" a familiar female voice asked from behind the robin. Margaret turned herself around and came face to face with her ghost again.

"Something I can help with?" Teragram smirked, adjusting her glasses.

Margaret grunted audibly and turned away from her copy. "Torture me some other time, I have work to do."

The robin began down the stairs when she was stopped by the hand of her clone. Margaret braced herself, expecting to be whisked away to some imaginary place to get mind fucked once again, but instead, was gifted with advice.

"Try to take this seriously, Margaret," Teragram muttered. "If you want to save both Mordecai and Rigby, you're going to need to take this seriously."

"What do you think I'm doing!" the robin snapped turning her head to look at the woman in the eyes.

Teragram smiled and nodded to her. "Just saying."

They both stood there in mutual silence.

"By the way," the copy started, "how cute was that kiss Rigby gave you?"

Margaret gave an understanding smile to herself. Teragram began to fade away in front of her eyes. "Think this one through, okay? And I don't mean the battle."

The ghost faded away from existence, leaving behind in axe in her place. Margaret sighed, try to mutter something that would instill her with confidence, and took her weapon in hand.

While all this was going on, Rigby was busy trying to wake Mordecai from his slumber. He resorted to slapping, and screaming, and all sorts of childish things to get his friend up but nothing seemed to work.

"Dude," Rigby yelled, "wake up! We need to get out of here, like right now!"

He shook his friend, taking in all the shocks in the process. Still nothing. Rigby moaned angrily as he tried his best to think of something. A thought occurred, and he leaned in close to Mordecai's ear.

"Hey Mordecai," he started with a smile, "Margaret's naked right now."

Rigby stood there for a few seconds, hoping the bird would have some sort of response. Sadly, nothing came of it.

"She's looking really hot right now," the raccoon continued into the bird's ear.

Still nothing.

Rigby pursed his lips and looked around the room intently. He leaned back over to Mordecai's ear and opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey bro… I'll do anything to ya if ya wake up. Anything…"

A cold wind suddenly blew behind Rigby, and he felted that he was no longer alone in that room with his friend.

"You can say that to him while he's asleep, but you don't have the balls to actually tell that to him when he's wide awake?" asked Ybgir as he appeared on the couch next to Mordecai.

Rigby jumped back and fell on his rear, stunned that his flamboyant counter part decided to make an appearance at this time.

"What are you doing here!" Rigby demanded.

A pair of hedge clippers was thrown onto the floor next to Rigby's feet. The raccoon looked down at them fondly, and then back up to his double.

"You love them enough to actually protect them, right?" Ybgir asked with a frown on his face.

Rigby's face shined with determination as he picked up the clippers and snapped them a few times in his hands. "What do you think?"

The imitation raccoon smiled down at him in approval. "Now that's what I wanted to hear from you."

He started to fade away leaving Rigby with some words of wisdom. "Try to think about this one. Like, more than you usually do about things."

And he was gone, leaving a battle ready raccoon prepared.

Margaret came down the stairs a second later sporting her axe from earlier. She saw Rigby with the hedge clippers and neither of them asked any questions. It was now or never happening at that moment.

The floorboards shook and creaked a little as a boom sounded in the distance. Margaret and Rigby stood close to the couch, keeping a close eye on Mordecai in the process.

Something hard banged up against the walls of the house, causing the foundation to shake, and dust to fall from the ceiling to the ground. It slammed itself into the house again, passing by the windows quickly in a dark haze. Any light protruding into the room was blocked out in an instant, leaving the house dark and its inhabitants blinded. Rigby and Margaret stood by, their heart beat and blood pressure rising with each passing shockwave to the house. Then, without a reason, it stopped.

The duo perked up their ears, hoping to hear something out of place. Nothing sounded. They were caught in the middle of a silent darkness. Margaret took in a deep breath and let it out.

"Rigby?" she said.

"What's up, girl?" he answered.

"Does something feel out of place to you?" Margaret whispered.

"Well," began a high pitched electrical voice. "Nope… nothing seems weird to me."

The voice came from the couch, as a small light sparked all around Mordecai. His body surged suddenly, and the entire room was covered in an electronic glow. A creature began to crawl its way out of the bird's heart, screaming happily as it did. When it had removed itself from its prison, it lashed out and snatched up Rigby.

The raccoon began to struggle, not caring as to what grabbed him, only thinking of trying to escape. He looked down on the ground and noticed a heavily electrified wing fall to the ground quietly. It shivered there for a few seconds before a string of lightning touched it, and reattached it to its owner.

"Heya Rigby," Iacedrom shrieked with a growing smile, "remember me?"

"I do," Margaret said as she rushed forward and slammed the blade of the axe against the creature's neck. She took special care not to slash anywhere near Rigby. Iacedrom's head lopped off his body, and bounced onto the floor.

Rigby was released from his grasp, falling to the floor, next to the head.

"God damn it, girl," the severed head sighed, "I come back to life for three seconds and you're already attacking me. What did I ever do to you?"

Margaret didn't answer, choosing rather to bring her weapon over her head and slice the head into halves.

"Oh yeah," the two pieces muttered, "I tried to kill you."

The sound of suction erupted from the headless body of Iacedrom as all of his pieces formed back together, reconstructing his body once again. His arm reached out and grabbed the girl by her neck, wasting no time in sending a powerful discharge into her throat. She wasn't even able to release a scream from the pain her body felt. She convulsed and dropped her axe when the second wave hit.

The electrified monster smiled after the second charge, ready to hit her with a third. His balance was lost though when Rigby clipped one of his legs off. The girl left his grasp, as the monster tumbled to the ground. The raccoon came up to him, hedge clippers unfolded and raised high above him, ready to come down and impale the creature.

"You're barking up the wrong tree, Riiiiiiiiigby," Iacedrom hissed.

The floor suddenly gave way beneath Rigby. He thought he would fall into nothingness at first, but instead found himself being pulled up. Something had wrapped itself around his leg and was thrusting him up through the floorboards of the second floor, and then through the ceiling and roof of the house. The raccoon was shoved outside suddenly, and chucked to the side like a sack of fertilizer. He flew a good few yards before landing next to the perfect garden they had created months earlier. Apparently, even here it was left untouched, showing all the beautiful colors and flower types all around it.

Rigby rolled his eyes at it, trying to wince away the pain. He picked himself up and looked around his feet. The hedge clippers weren't too far away luckily for him. He picked them up and looked back at the house.

"You have got to be effing me," he said, his eyes growing wide and fearful.

There was a reason the darkness had taken over the house. Vines, vines, vines, covered the house base to roof with no chance of letting anything in or out. They had returned just as Iacedrom had as well.

Rigby stared down at his body, curious as to why he didn't feel any ooze on him. Instead, his fur was covered in a fine thick crimson blood. Rigby's eye twitched at the sight of his fuzzy brown and black fur enveloped by blood. He felt like he might be sick right there, until he realized that his body was covered in splintered wood and broken debris that had found some new homes within his flesh. He fell to the ground and clutched his body when the pain hit. But then he remembered Margaret was still inside, and with that thing no less.

The raccoon sprinted as fast as he could to the back porch, fighting through the pain. He needed to get back into the house fast. Who knows what that psychopath would do to Margaret if he got his hands on her again.

It didn't take Rigby long to realize that the vines and ivy were especially aware of him. Perhaps they remembered what he did to them earlier? The animal wondered if the heart might be nearby. If he kills it again, that'll save the house, won't it? But that was the problem. The heart wasn't nearby. The garden was where the plant heart was originally and it no longer housed the giant gaping hole this time around. Rigby would need to think of another solution and fast.

He continued to sprint toward the house, jumping over vines, and clipping at ivy when needed. A sudden stabbing pain erupted from his feet as he stepped onto some discolored grass. They shined a deep purple, and stood up like needles on the ground.

"Rigby Rigby Rigby Rigby Rigby," it repeated over and over again in Mordecai's voice. "Don't you Love Me Love Me Love Me Love Me Love Me Love Me?"

"QUIT TALKING," the raccoon screamed at the top of his longs as he stabbed the clippers into the ground.

"Please Please Please Please Please…"

"I SAID STOP!"

"Need You Need You Need You Need You Need You Need You Need You…"

Rigby continued to stab at the ground, angry that these things were trying to mimic his friend's voice. He continued to stab at them, but nothing seemed to work. The raccoon took a deep breath, aware that he needed to keep going. He took a step forward, and absorbed all the pain that came into his feet. The grass grew tall with annoyance, and stabbed him in the stomach and side repeatedly. He kept moving forward, all the while hearing them speak terrible things he didn't understand.

"Don't take him away…" they said angrily.

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

"Don't take him away…"

Meanwhile, inside the house…

"You're a right bitch, you know that, girlie?" Iacedrom said as he reattached his torso.

"And damn proud of it," Margaret said with a smile on her face.

The two had begun trading blows with one another, mostly resulting in either Margaret getting a good shock to the system, or another one of the electrified monster's body parts falling to the ground and healing it self right up. This went on for a good minute or two before one of them finally wised up and changed strategies.

Iacedrom smiled and let loose an electrical burst all around the room. Pieces of furniture and debris lifted from the floor and began to orbit him in a fast rotation. The man raised his arm into the air, ready to give the signal to destroy the woman in front of him. The arm came down, and all of his "planets" went flying at the girl.

Margaret took a deep breath and began to run around the room. The woman was actually surprised that the couch housing the unconscious Mordecai wasn't moving at all, and considered it a blessing. The pieces of garbage and destruction slammed into the wall, impaling them selves in place or leaving dents in the area before splintering into a thousand tiny pieces. Said splintered pieces floated in the air as well before rushing at Margaret with full force, sticking into her backside as the shrapnel dug into her flesh. She gasped and fell to the floor.

"Well what do you know," Iacedrom commented and he watched the back of the robin's clothes stain red, "you are mortal like the rest of us."

Margaret stared up at the monster as it slowly approached her. "You're a right bastard, you know that?" she asked as a smug grin appeared on her face.

The electrical bird smiled down at her pleasantly. "And you have a sense of humor too."

He knelt down to get a good look at her. "Dangerous, a bitch, and funny. You're a triple threat… umm… I'm sorry, I don't think I ever got your name."

She spit in his face, causing electricity to splash around the saliva. "It's Margaret."

"Figures… what a lovely name for a lovely woman."

"Awww," Margaret added with sarcasm. "Now you're making me BLUSH!"

As she spoke her last word, she slammed her elbow against the man's chin, getting a slight jolt in the process. He hesitated, giving Margaret enough of a chance to take her axe and decapitate him once again. She smiled as she picked herself up from off the floor, but was stopped short of escaping when the headless body grabbed her by the neck again. His head reattached shortly there after.

"Fool me once, shame on you," the monster quoted. "Fool me eight times, well… that's a hat tricked, ain't it?"

She spit at him again, violently swinging her axe against the lower part of her body. He sighed unimpressed and threw her against the wall of the living room, going in one end, and crashing into the kitchen on the other side. She hit the floor sliding, slamming into the wall at the end of the kitchen, leaving a large crack in its side. Margaret began coughing up blood as she tried to readjust herself. She reached a wing behind her and felt a large piece of wood lodged into her back. The pain caught up to her moments later as she let out a cry of ache.

Rigby heard her scream as he stepped up onto the back porch, all four of his paws stinging heavily from stab wounds and his body leaking what seemed like a fountain of blood from what felt like orifice on his body. He could barely stand on his own two feet, let alone carry a pair of titanium hedge clippers. He brought them up, and began to dice the vines surrounding the back door. He looked around every snip to see if any of the vines were coming to attack him. But it seemed as though they weren't. They were watching him actually.

The sound of wood breaking erupted around the house. Rigby figured out what it was they were making an attempt to do. The plants were trying to crush the house and everything in it. Margaret and Mordecai would be buried alive. No doubt Iacedrom would survive. Rigby had to get in there and save them.

"Don't worry Margaret," he screamed through the vines. "I'm coming!"

Margaret hazily picked herself up from off the floor and leaned her side against the wall for balance. She could feel all of her life slowly trickle down all over her back and drip into large puddles on the floor next to her feet. She looked around and hoped to find her axe, but it was nowhere to be seen.

"Looking for this?" Iacedrom asked as he held the axe close to him. A burst of energy shot through the weapon, and the handle disintegrated, leaving the blade to fall to the floor. Seeing it as a potential weapon, he brought his foot up and brought it down onto the blade, shattering it into pieces on the floor. They scattered all over the kitchen, as well as any chance for Margaret's survival.

The house shook again, the walls cracking and breaking slowly.

"So this is it then?" the monster asked. "This is all? I was expecting more fun than that"

He began to slowly approach Margaret with a devilish grin.

Outside, Rigby continued to work through the plants. As he dug deeper and deeper, spurts of blood, in place of the ooze, began to belt him excessively. These damned things were mocking him at this point. He eventually had to crawl inside in order to keep working. The vines inside were not as kind as the vines outside though, hitting him whenever they got the chance, or stabbing him with more purple grass from within them. He began to slowly hear conversations from within the house.

"I mean I had fun," Iacedrom said disappointingly, "just not as much fun as the last time we played. I thought I'd at least get to 'play' with you."

"Fuck you," Margaret coughed out, falling to the floor again in her weakened state. She clutched at the ground, curling her wings up into a fist angrily, feeling pieces of debris, glass, and broken axe blade stab into her palm.

"Oh well," the creature said as he stood above her. Both his arms outstretched as a wave of energy began to charge. "I guess I'll just have more fun with your friend when he gets here."

"I repeat," Margaret said with a small grin on her face. "Fuck… YOU!"

The woman then jammed her fist forward, stabbing a piece of axe fragment she took from the floor into the man's groin and leaving it there. A powerful screamed erupted from his as his crouch area actually began to bleed onto the floor. Margaret couldn't help but release the slightest of giggles.

The back door flew open suddenly, detaching itself from the wall and falling to the ground. Rigby rolled out of the vines, bloody, beaten, and weak. A vine lashed out at him. He noticed it and ducked, as it stabbed into the floor. Rigby looked at it and Iacedrom. He took the vine into his hand and raised it up. A smile appeared on Margaret's face as she knew what he was about to do. She opened her mouth and muttered it:

"Zap!"

The vine was rushed down onto Iacedrom's foot, electrocuting the vines in the process. The house began to shake and quake as the foundation began to give way.

"Mordecai," Rigby coughed out, trying to weakly get to the living room.

"We got him," said two voices from outside.

Margaret and Rigby looked outside through the hole in the vines and saw Teragram and Ybgir carrying Mordecai into the garden. They waved their hands happily, before a flash of light overtook them. Margaret and Rigby suddenly found them selves outside in there doubles place. They saw Mordecai on the ground and looked back over at the house. Teragram and Ybgir were still waving from inside the house, though they could barely see them.

"You owe us," Ybgir screamed from the other side, hoping they would hear them.

Iacedrom let out another scream of pain.

Teragram turned to him and grimaced. "Oh shut up, you drama queen!"

Iacedrom exploded the moment after she said that, taking the house, the doppelgangers, the vines, and everything associated with all of them with it. The explosion was quick and booming, scattering all the debris and rubble all around the park. Margaret, Rigby, and the eyeless Mordecai remained within the perfect garden, protected for some reason, as not a single piece of the destroyed house landed anywhere remotely near them. They didn't even feel the explosion beneath their feet.

The smoke and dust cleared. All that remained of the park house was a crater and the memories associated with what had once stood there. If it had been any other two people, they would have reflected on the fact that there home was gone and their copies saved them. But this duo found that they just didn't care, turning their concern back to Mordecai as a top priority.

"Is he alright?" Rigby asked looking at the bird closely.

"He seems fine," Margaret answered him touching the feathers of the blue jay. No shock came from him anymore. "How do we wake him up?"

"How should I know?" Rigby weakly said as he held his stomach. More blood was pouring out of him by the second, contaminating the ground of the garden.

Margaret coughed, and watched as more of her own insides flowed out through her mouth into her palm. When she pulled her hand away, it dripped crimson onto the dirt.

Both Margaret and Rigby looked at each other, knowing that their time was coming to a close... again. Rigby was getting weaker from the blood loss, and Margaret knew that the piece of wood in her back had pierced her lung. She wondered how long the instrument was to go that deep within her. She tumbled to the ground, arms wrapped around Mordecai.

"Wake up," she pleaded, embracing him close.

Rigby fell on top of his friend as well, resting his head on his chest.

"C'mon bro," he begged, "wake up."

They both laid there, repeating the same thing over and over again, trying to get the bird to snap out of it. His blue feathers began to stain with blood from the two people he cared about the most, but he didn't know. He was too far gone to notice anything anymore.

"Wake up…"

"Mordecai, wake up…"

Neither of them knew what to do in order to get him to wake up. They tried shaking him again with as much strength as they could, but nothing worked.

Margaret began to cough again. Several large blasts of blood splash out of her mouth and onto Mordecai's neck. It was getting harder for her to stay awake. Her body felt so heavy, and the only thing she wanted to do at the moment was take a nice long nap. Her body could barely move. Whatever strength she had, she took Mordecai's wing closest to her and wrapped it around her side, collapsing her fingers in between those of Mordecai's hand.

Rigby's was in the middle of fighting with his eyelids as well. They kept falling down, bringing him into a half slumber, then shooting back open so he could stay close to Mordecai and Margaret a little longer. Mimicking the red robin's idea, he took the spare arm of his friend and placed it over his body. The feathers felt warm and soft to the touch, like he always dreamed they would. Like he always knew they did. He suddenly felt a hand on his head, scratching his scalp softly. He looked over at Margaret and saw her with her other wing extended onto Rigby. The raccoon took her wing in his hand and kissed it gently with a smile.

Margaret let a soft laugh. "So now you wanna be romantic, huh?"

"You like it," he said with a grin.

The robin began to cough again, trying to talk through the pain. "I do… I really… really…"

She was having trouble finishing her sentence. Her body was growing cold and she could feel her feet and legs going numb. She kept her wing in Rigby's grasp, happy that she was able to make the raccoon feel loved. Her attention returned to Mordecai not too soon after. The girl gave a satisfied smile, and kissed the bird on the cheek, leaving a bloody mark. She giggled childishly to herself when it reminded her of lipstick.

Rigby laughed as well, though not for the same reasons. He was content. For the first time in a long time he no longer felt like he had anything to hide. And these people he was with; they made him smile so much. He loved them. Love… he finally got the meaning of the word. He still wasn't sure if it was romantic or platonic, but it was love none the less. It was strong positive feelings he had for the both of them. He nuzzled against Mordecai's chest and sighed happily as he held Margaret wing close to him.

"Rig… Rigby," Margaret sputtered, barely audible.

"Hmmm…?" Rigby sounded looking, head too heavy to look at her. "Wha…?"

"…good… night…"

Her eyes lids fell, and she was surrounded by darkness once more. As everything around her began to feel fuzzy and null, she distinctly heard one more little squeak from the raccoon.

"…yeah… you too…"

And then they were gone.

And that's where the story ends.

For those of you wondering why this tale ends where it does, you have to realize, that sometimes the ending we want isn't always the ending we get, and the ending we don't want is sometimes the one we have to live with. Three people, whatever you want to call them; friends, lovers, metaphorical siblings, whatever, simply had no more energy to figure each other out anymore. They fought to get to where they were, and failed.

Their codependence was what did them in, in the end. Their supposed need of one another brought about there downfalls. No lesson was learned as a whole. But the smaller lessons… the personal struggles that each character had to deal with, was what was actually learned.

Whether that be a raccoon discovering the definition of love, and no longer becoming afraid of it.

Whether that be a blue jay figuring out that sometimes the love of your life will come to you in different packages.

Whether that be a red robin learning to restrain herself and take things only a little bit more seriously.

All of those things are what matter the most. And perhaps… those who looked on as this happened will take those morals to heart. And really, that's all you can take away from stories like this: Things that will make your life better to live by. Too live your life day to day to its fullest using the lessons you may have learned here. Life and love is meant to be cherished…

Even if it's abruptly cut short…

_Growing Wings – Takayuki Aihara and Kari Wahlgren_

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Good night, good night, good night…

We see no more hope in going on…

But at least we have love, so we carry on…

And when the darkness comes at last…

I hope in time the night will pass…

And please forgive me for what I've done…

I know I took away all your fun…

And with that, I have nothing more to say…

But I'd like one more chance to find the way…

…_ciF txeN litnU oS_

…_ueidA_

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

_We_

_Aren't_

_Finished_

_Here_

_Yet…_

"Benson?"

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

**Sigh No More**

"Wake up you slacker! You honestly think that's it! You're just gonna lay there and let your friends AND the park be killed and destroyed! You're not even going to try and fight it are you! You really are a slacker if you're just going to sit there on your ass and not make an attempt to fix things!"

"But…"

"NO BUTS! Now you're going to wake yourself up, look at the mess you've made, and then you're going to snap out of it so we can all get on with our lives! No more romance, no more bloody violence, and no more pretentious morals!"

"But I…"

"I SAID MOVE YOUR ASS!"

The feathers layered around Mordecai's eyes burst into a thousand little pieces, all of them falling to the ground and on top of his head. He shook his head repeatedly, hoping to get the fluff out of his face. That, though not surprising, didn't seem to work. Apparently, he was just going to have to rub them out of the way. He didn't feel like moving actually. He had such a wonderful sleep it was a shame to have to come out of it.

He tried to bring his hand up to clean himself off, but for some reason, it wouldn't budge. He tried the other hand and thankfully was able to bring it up to his-

He stopped suddenly when he found his hand clasped together with a red one. His eyes, through their limited vision, traced the source of the hand back to its owner. A red robin lay beside him, little droplets of blood trickling out of her, as she remained there silently. Mordecai's consciousness snapped into action, his head looking at her silently and the damage that had been done. As he tried to get up, he felt something resting on his chest. Rigby's head quietly leaned against him. The raccoon had a pleasant expression on his face, as well as being the one to hold on to blue jay's other hand.

"Margaret? Rigby?" Mordecai whispered as his vision darted back and forth between the two of them. Then he looked down at his own body and nearly wretched.

He stood up quickly, severing the connections he had with the two, the feathers on his head coming off finally and floating to the ground. Mordecai looked at every inch of his body. Blood. Not his own though. Blood from Margaret and Rigby was splattered all over him. On his neck, on his chest, and stomach, on his arms and legs, and even though he couldn't see his own face, he was sure there was some on it as well.

"Wait… no," he muttered, his mind beginning to panic. "B-b-bad dream! This is bad dream."

He pinched himself, hoping the pain would be enough to wake him up. It wasn't. It wasn't enough. His eyes dilated as the situation was beginning to sink in.

"This… this…"

The bird looked around himself in fear. He was in the park, but it wasn't the park. Why was everything run down, and why were the plants dead? And the house; what happened to it? Didn't it used to be where that smoldering crater is?

"W-w-what happened!"

"You happened," Benson said from out of nowhere.

"What! B-Benson?"

The blue jay looked around intently. Even if it was someone he didn't like, at least it was someone who knew he was there and hopefully was aware of what was going on.

"Where are you?" Mordecai asked the air.

"In here," the gumball machine said, still out of nowhere.

"Where-"

Mordecai was cut off when he noticed something faintly glowing in Margaret's pocket. He knelt down and reached in, feeling sick suddenly for looting his dead crush's belongings. He clutched whatever it was and pulled it out. In his hand was a brightly glowing gumball. Mordecai brought it close to his ear, and as he did, could distinctly hear the sounds of Skips, Pops, the therapist, and…

"Good, you found me," Benson said into the bird's ear, causing Mordecai to pull away from the gumball.

"Benson," Mordecai started, "what happened here?"

An audible sigh came from the ball. "I just told you what happened, didn't I? You screwed everything up!"

Mordecai looked at his surroundings again. How was any of this his fault? The last thing he remembered was going to the park to get his stuff to move out for a couple of days until things had blown over. Everything else after that was a giant blur.

"But… I don't understand."

"What's to understand, Mordecai?" the voice bellowed. "Look around you! The park is in ruins, the house is destroyed, and your friends are dead."

That last part caused the birds heart to skip a beat.

"I don't know about you," Benson continued, "but I don't see anyone else here who could have done this."

"But… but…"

"I've been watching Rigby and Margaret the whole time from this pocket. I couldn't see much, but I know that they were the ones trying to find you and looked what happened to them!"

Mordecai eyed the corpses again for the briefest of moments and looked away in disgust. It didn't work though. He could still "feel" their blood all over him. The tall man began to shake and shiver, his emotions becoming more frantic as time passed.

"I didn't-didn't mean… I mean… Umm…"

He looked around himself again. Everything WAS his fault. The memories were beginning to come back to him. He held Rigby in his arms as the raccoon died. He remembered a part of himself choking the life out of Margaret. Everything was becoming clearer.

"No no," he whispered, "this isn't happening. I didn't mean to…"

"What's going on?" asked a faint voice in the background.

"I think he's about to lose it again," Benson said to someone else.

There was a brief pause in voices as a different one shot through the gumball. It was faint, but still audible. "Mordecai? Mordecai, can you hear me? This is Dr. Martin Ploddevize. Do you remember me?"

The therapist…

"I need you to calm down. If you keep going on like this it's only going to get worse."

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW!" the bird cawed, "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

He clutched at his head, dropping the gumball in the process. "They're dead," he said to himself. "They're dead and it's my fault."

"Mordecai, caaaaaaaalm… dooooooown…"

"SHUT UP!"

There was a brief struggle from within the gumball for voice dominance.

"Martin," Benson erupted, "I can handle this, so butt out."

"If he loses it in there we'll never get any of them back," the therapist yelled. "In fact I'm pretty sure they'll be permanently dead this time."

A grunt erupted from the ball, obviously from Benson. "I said I can handle this!"

"SHUT UP," Mordecai screamed again. "JUST SHUT UP!"

The clouds above the bird began to swirl and shape into a funnel. The tip of the storm began to slowly fall down on the garden, finding a home on the back of Mordecai's neck. The young adult fell to his knees, falling between the bodies of the two loves of his life.

"I wanna die," he sobbed. "I don't wanna be here anymore…"

The vortex from the back of his neck opened up again and everything began to be sucked in one more time. The force of it was so powerful, it was already tearing and eating away at Mordecai's feathers and flesh. The only difference between now and then was that everything wasn't going somewhere else this time. The moment it fell inside the black hole, it disintegrated into ash and then nothing at all.

"Mordecai?" Benson called out. "Mordecai can you hear me?"

The gumball flew into the air suddenly, and began to circle the drain of Mordecai's vacuum. Benson continued to scream out, hoping the blue jay would snap out it somehow. But nothing seemed to be working.

"Mordecai, listen. You need to come back!"

"This can be fixed, just give it time!"

"Mordecai! They're just as torn up about this as you are!"

"You can still save them still! You just need to stop this!"

"Mordecai? MORDECAI!"

No matter what Benson screamed at the boy, it just wasn't doing the trick. The gumball was getting dangerously close to disintegration, and everyone knew that if it was destroyed, there would be no hope for the blue jay or anyone else in there.

Benson sighed.

"Mordecai," he began. "You can't have them both."

Everything stopped, like it was frozen in time. The only thing moving was Mordecai who flinched at the very thing his employer just said.

"Wha…what?"

"You heard me," the gumball machine said in a cold manner. "You can't have them both. You can either have one or the other, but you can't have both."

"But…," Mordecai released his grasp on his head. "But they both love me…"

"So? Good for you, you have two people who are in love with you. You either need to choose one or none at all. Do you see what you're doing to them, let alone yourself!"

The bird took a moment to look at the palms of his hands. Each one was covered in the blood of a different lover.

"You're in the situation you're in right now because you couldn't choose. You love Margaret because you think she's the only one for you. You love Rigby because you think your friendship goes deeper than that. But you can't have it all…"

Benson's voice was beginning to sound more sympathetic.

"Please listen to me Mordecai. You need to get over it, and come home. We'll figure this out when you get back…"

"But," the bird whimpered, "I don't want to."

"So what then," Benson snapped, "you'd rather die and let the two people who TRIED to save you and make you happy die too? That's pretty damn selfish."

Mordecai couldn't argue that. Though, at that moment he felt like he had the right to be selfish. He had gone through hell in a hand basket and back again. He felt he deserved the right to be selfish for once in his life. But still… he knew he couldn't let them die here.

"Just come back, Mordecai," Benson quietly finished. "Let's talk about this like adults… for once."

Mordecai looked around the still frame in front of him. All of this was his doing. He failed to try and obtain happiness. He failed to try and make the ones he loved happy. He failed trying to do a good deed. He failed to try and protect them. He failed as a worker, as a friend, and as a lover. He failed at everything and he knew it.

…

…

…

But just because he failed, didn't mean that the ones he still loved had to suffer because of it. So he picked up Rigby and Margaret, and held them both in his arms, tears running down his face as he did so.

He kissed Margaret on the forehead.

He kissed Rigby on the forehead.

And then he closed his eyes, and let the light lead him out.

**Serve God, love me and mend**

**This is not the end**

**Live unbruised, we are friends…**

**And I'm sorry!**

**I'm sorry…**

"I'm sorry," he wept, as he continued to hold the pair close to him.

**Sigh no more, no more**

**One foot on sea and one on shore**

**My heart was never pure**

**And you know me!**

**You know me…**

Something warm was coming ever closer to him. He refused to open his eyes, afraid that if anything changed, he may never get to see them again. And that was the only thing he wanted more than anything at that moment.

**But man is a giddy thing…**

**Oh, man is a giddy thing…**

**Oh, man is a giddy thing…**

**Oh, man is a giddy thing…**

The light over took Mordecai, and everything went white. Voices and sounds erupted from all around him, telling him stories of past memories and old adventures. Of all the times he was shy around this one red robin working at a coffee shop, or of all the moments that he spent goofing off and playing with his raccoon best friend ever.

**Love, it will not betray you**

**Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free**

**Be more like the man you were made to be…**

**There is a design, an alignment, a cry**

**Of my heart to see**

**The beauty of love as it was made to be…**

He was ready to go home and see them again, and this time… he'd make everything right.

**Love, it will not betray you**

**Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free**

**Be more like the man you were made to be!**

**There is a design, an alignment, a cry**

**Of my heart to see**

**The beauty of love as it was made to be…**

…

…

…

Mordecai's eyes slowly opened up to the light. He was groggy, like coming out of a dream he had been watching for years upon years. The area around him slowly came into vision, and he recognized it as a hospital room in an instant. The IV in his arm was helpful reminded of this. His body moved surprisingly fast in waking itself up after the initial grogginess. He wondered if perhaps it was his adrenaline kicking in.

The bird reached his hands up to his face and began to rub the sleep out of his eyes. His right hand however, he could only move to a limited length before something held him back. The man took a quick glimpse over at his right wing and noticed that he had been handcuffed to the bed.

"What the…?"

"Good morning," said a voice near him.

Mordecai turned his head over to the window. Benson was standing there looking out into the city. The gumball machine looked fantastic. No bandages or wrap anywhere on his head, and it looked like all the cracks had been fixed as well. The way he was standing even showed how in good health he was.

"You're lucky," he said turning to look at Mordecai. "Mr. Maelard said if you weren't awake in the next week to just pull the plug."

A sly smile appeared on his face as he approached the bird. "Of course, you're mom threatened litigation against him if he even tried to do something like that, so it shut him up."

"I'm fired, aren't I?" Mordecai said with a rasp in his voice.

Benson let out a chuckle as he sat down in a chair next to the bed. "You've been asleep for two weeks and the first thing you ask is about your job. Heh heh… where was this eagerness to work a few weeks ago?"

The blue jay let a small smile curve onto his lips.

"No," Benson went on, "you, Margaret, and Rigby are fine for now. I did want to talk to you about that though-"

"Margaret and Rigby are okay!" Mordecai burst.

"Yeah, they're fine. They're on the floor below in the psychiatric wing. Why that idiot therapist of mine's office isn't down there is beyond me."

Mordecai didn't care about that. Margaret and Rigby were alive! He wasted no time in getting up, ripping the IV from out of his arm, jumping out of bed, and falling to the floor when the handcuffs kept him from going anywhere.

"The handcuffs were my idea," the gumball machine said with a grin as he held a key up. "We'll go visit the two of them soon, I promise. You and I are going to have a little chat first."

Mordecai grumbled and got back into bed. He knew the sooner this conversation was over with, the faster he could go and see the two people he cared about.

"Spill it." the bird snapped. "And make it quick."

Benson's smile wiped from his face. "Okay."

The metal man took a deep breath, and spilled it. "The park's in shambles. Trees have been uprooted, nearly all the grass is dead, there are creepy stone statues of children everywhere, not to mention the disturbing site of the dead dolls of all us… not only should I fire your butt, but I should have you arrested for destruction of public property, endangerment of park patrons, and attempted murder on your friends."

Mordecai grimaced at the gumball machine.

"Don't give me that look," Benson continued, "you know this is all your fault."

The bird's expression turned sad as he began to think about Margaret and Rigby, and about what happened inside him self.

"The house is gone too," Benson said with a sigh. "Skips has been working on trying to get the place rebuilt all by him self. He's got the first story finished, and he expects to get the second story and the attic finished by next week."

"That's… impressive," Mordecai said uncaring.

"Yeah I know… but anyways. When the park came back, we found you, Margaret, and Rigby all unconscious in the garden you all created a few months back. By the way... it's dead now."

Benson sighed and continued his story.

"Margret and Rigby woke up about two days after we got you all here to the hospital. They couldn't move, talk, and could barely hear us. They started getting there senses back slowly after that, and now, they are in the middle of psychological therapy."

"Therapy?" the bird said questionably.

"They're still scared Mordecai. They went into your head, and you expect them to come out the other side smelling like roses? They both died! TWICE!"

Mordecai clutched at the covers on the bed. "How did… how did you talk to us?"

"That was all Dr. Ploddevize," Benson answered. "After Magaret left and the park disappeared, we all realized she still had one of my gumballs. Sooooo… we decided to do a tracking exercise again, like we had been doing for the past few weeks."

The gumball machine looked back at the window, feeling a strange sensation come over him. "It's weird. I could see everything that you three had gone through the past few months, and then we got to your big battle, and… well I just couldn't stay quiet anymore."

"Thanks for that, by the way," Mordecai said as another smile slowly appeared on his face.

"I should be thanking you," Benson returned with a smile of his own. "They're naming a new syndrome after me: Omniscient existential gumball syndrome, or OEGS abbreviated, OR Benson's Syndrome."

"Congrats," Mordecai told him.

"Thanks… now. On to what I've been actually been wanting to talk about."

Benson set one of his legs on top of another. "How are you feeling about the two of them right now?"

Mordecai looked at Benson with sincere eyes. "I still love them. I just… don't know what to do right now."

"Do you love one more than the other?"

The bird looked down. "I don't know. I really don't know what to think about it."

"Well then," Bensons started, "I'll make this easy for you. I don't want you three working at the park anymore."

Mordecai's eyes widened. He might actually be losing his job this time, along with Rigby and Margaret.

"But…," the automaton continued, "that would be a waste. And seeing the current events and circumstances surrounding said events I've come to a conclusion…"

"And that would be…?" Mordecai trailed off.

"One of you has to go."

The bird felt his heart sink suddenly. He knew that it was coming, but didn't want to hear it.

"When the three of you work together, we get all of this," Benson added waving his hand all around him. "At least when two of you are together some semblance of work gets down, even if it's not a lot."

Benson grew silent for a few seconds, thinking of all the times he had to deal with the slackers. "So here's the deal… whichever person you care about most… whichever one you love more then anything else… whichever worker you think you're going to spend the rest of your life with…"

Mordecai held his breath.

"That's the one I'm going to fire. And you're going to choose."

"But," Mordecai coughed out, "but…"

"You know that if you three are together for too long it causes all of this."

"I know but…"

"What did I just say?"

"But where will they live?" Mordecai asked in a pleading manner.

Benson sighed again and began to look around the room. "I called Don a few days ago, and ran the idea past him. He said whoever gets fired could stay with him till they get back on their feet."

The gumball machine looked back at Mordecai with a deadly serious expression. "I don't want whoever it is you like near you while you work, understand? I don't want any workplace romance going on. This needs to be nipped in the bud."

Mordecai sat there in total silence. He was going to choose who was going to stay and who was going to leave? Not only that, but the person who left was the one he loved most of all. It wasn't a fair choice. How could he figure out who was more important to him?

"Now c'mon," Benson said as he began to fiddle with the handcuffs, "let's go see how they're doing."

Any decision that Mordecai had to make was put on temporary hold as he and the gumball machine took an elevator to the floor below them. There, Mordecai was directed into room 1982 where his friends waited to see him. They wobbled over to him and gave him a hug, and a punch across the beak and stomach. He deserved it, and they all knew it as well. But when they had finished beating him up for a good twenty minutes or so, they all relaxed and got down to business.

They talked and talked and talked the day away over everything: Everything that happened inside Mordecai's mind, the feelings they had for one another, the "deaths" that Margaret and Rigby went through, and they already knew about Benson's plans, and what it could mean for them.

"Whichever one…," Margaret said with a sad smile, "I'll support you 100%."

"Hey bro, either way…," Rigby laughed to Mordecai, "I'm cool with what you choose."

He didn't want to have to choose. But he knew that there was no way to have everything. Something had to be cut loose in the end. So he made his decision…

_Sigh No More – Mumford and Sons_

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Bet you all didn't think you'd see me again, huh. I wrote that poem in the fake Author's Notes by myself, it's not taken from anything. It's 100% original and I'm dang proud of it. This was without a doubt the most difficult chapter to write in the whole god damn story, but it's done now, and I couldn't be happier. Could you imagine the hate mail I would have gotten if I had just ended the story at the false ending? Heh heh… I might have been known as the greatest troll in the RS fandom!

The "Sigh No More" ending was the original ending for the story. I was gonna leave it up to the reader to see who he chose in the end, but then I thought, 'you know what? Let's go the extra mile!' So I've written three endings depending on the choices he'll make. All three of them will be posted on the same week, one every other day(Mon, Weds, Fri). I hope you all enjoy them!

_So Until Next Chapter…_

_Adieu…_


	28. Sky

**Epilogue ~ Sky**

**Take Me Down**

"I don't give a crap if you came in here spreading the good word of Goddess Marceline," the electric eel hissed at the red robin, "there is no way in hell you are getting your old job back, end of story."

Michelle began to walk away from Margaret, before she was stopped by the bird again.

"Please," Margaret pleaded, "I know that a lot of stuff happened, but that was a long time ago. I didn't know he was in there-"

"This has nothing to do with Ricardo," Michelle snapped at her. "I gave you and the staff explicate orders to not touch anything in the storage room, but did you listen?"

"Well you wouldn't give us any money for speakers," the bird argued as she followed the eel around the back counter.

"We couldn't afford it."

"Well then, what else were you expecting to happen!" Margaret yelled, causing all the customers to eye the duo with interest. "We saw the speaker in the storage room and we used it! How were we supposed to know that a sociopathic whatever it is was hiding in there?"

The eel dropped some sort of mixture in a cup and set it underneath a hot water dispenser. "Not to mention," Michelle said as she pressed the button to release boiling water, "that your last employer got a hefty check out of the coffee shop for what Ricardo did to his boys."

Margaret knew her former employer was going to throw that back in her face somehow. The red robin sighed and bit down on her beak.

"I need this job," the girl said as stern as she could be.

Michelle rolled her eyes, completely ignoring the girl, as she began to drop ice cubes into the cup in order to lower the temperature. She picked up the cup and began to walk into the back room with an uncaring look on her face.

Margaret groaned angrily under her breath and turned to look at the two boys she had come in with, who were, as always, sitting quietly at a table with a cup of coffee in hand. They watched with intent at the mess that was taking place in front of them. It was almost pathetic to watch.

"You two stay there," she sighed. "I don't want you to see this."

The red robin then took in a deep breath and walked into the back room after her former employer. Mordecai and Rigby sat at the table quietly as they sipped on their coffee and said idle chit chat to one another. A sudden scream of, "OH PLEASE, OH PLEASE, OH PLEASE," suddenly erupted from behind the counter, as everyone in the coffee shop looked at the general direction of the noise. Both the blue jay and the raccoon both had the image of a red robin in their heads, down on her hands and knees, begging for her job back. Rigby let out a quick chuckle, as Mordecai groaned at the thought.

"She'll be fine," Rigby said between laughs.

"You think so?" Mordecai asked him while looking into his coffee cup. "It would be nice if she could get this job again."

The blue jay took a sip of his joe and looked around the restaurant. "I hope she isn't mad at me for getting her fired from the park."

"Dude," the raccoon interjected, "don't worry about it. She still loves ya, even after you got her canned. Besides, that was what, two weeks ago?"

Rigby's expression shifted to a more solemn and tired one suddenly as the thoughts of what had happened the past couple of weeks returned to him. A sudden sense of rejection washed over him as he looked at the table top defeated.

Mordecai noticed his friend grimace and looked on with care. "You sure you're okay with this, dude?" he asked putting his wing on the raccoon's back.

Rigby let a small smile drape over his face as he looked up at Mordecai. "I'm fine bro. Seriously. It was just… I guess a lot's happened lately, so I'm still trying to, you know, get over it."

"And you're okay then?" the bird asked him. "I mean about with us?"

"You chose man," Rigby said with a slight tinge of pain in his voice. "Not my decision, I guess."

They both sat in silence looking at each other. Rigby's smile widened though, insinuating his reluctant approval of the situation. "I'll get over it. You're just another drop in the bucket of all the people who want to get at this."

He then pointed his thumbs at himself and tried to look as sexy and suave as he could. Mordecai smiled and laughed at his friend's usual brand of childish narcissism.

It was remarkable how the past few weeks had just flown by. Mordecai could have sworn they were still in the hospital after being spit out of that screwed black hole dimension just the other day. But, time makes fools of us all, and there he was, back where it all started in the coffee shop, waiting patiently for his girlfriend to get her job back. He let out a quick sigh from the sudden rush of nostalgia.

Mordecai took a quick glance down at Rigby and watched him. The raccoon looked like he was fine with everything that had happened, but it was obvious that he was still feeling unhappy and rejected. But no matter how hard Mordecai poked and prodded at him to tell the truth, Rigby wasn't going to say a damn thing. He wanted to make sure his friends were happy with one another, and that was all. He could talk to Mordecai about his own personal demons later, once everyone had settled down. Truth be told, he couldn't wait to unload all that baggage, but that would have to wait.

Margaret appeared a moment later, looking tired, disheveled, and ready to collapse.

"Part time, start back up on Monday" she sighed. "It's something at least. She just said that you two can't be anywhere near here when you're together, or when I'm working."

Rigby laughed uncomfortably. "So we just come when she's not working then?"

Margaret pointed at her nose, signifying that he was correct. What she didn't know was that a year from now she would be owning that coffee shop and would subsequently fire Michelle for employee endangerment for something that would occur around that same time.

Mordecai sighed and looked down into his coffee. "At least you're getting paid more than me," he said in a slightly envious tone.

The red robin waved her hand in front of him and smiled warmly. "Benson didn't dock your pay THAT much."

The blue jay looked over at her with unbelieving eyes. A 50% pay cut was a big cut, no matter how anyone looks at it. It was also the appropriate punishment for wrecking the whole park, nearly killing people, and just being a general psychological mess. There was obviously a reason Benson was forcing him to go to therapy sessions with Dr. Ploddevize now. Margaret knew it, Rigby knew it, and everyone knew it. But Margaret tried not to think about it, and did her best to keep a stiff upper lip while looking at the situation optimistically. "Let's look at it this way: Between the two of us, we'll have a whole single person's salary to spend on whatever we want!"

She smiled, but it did nothing to help the mood Mordecai was in. So she sighed and gave up.

"You guys should get some to-go lids for your coffee," she said as she began to head towards the entrance of the shop. "We still need to go meet Don at his place so I can get keys, remember?"

The two of them grunted, unhappy that they had to be ripped away from the coffee house so suddenly.

"I was just starting to get used to this place again," Mordecai said as he winked at Margaret.

"I don't wanna go to Don's," Rigby complained as he rested his head on the table. "Do I have to?"

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," Margaret said as she started up the stairs, "but your brother's crotch still scares me, and he'll actually put some pants on if you tell him to. He actually listens to you."

"But I don't wanna," the small man complained.

"C'mon Rigby," Mordecai said as he punch his friend in the shoulder. "Get your lazy butt up. Go get us some lids before we get going."

Rigby groaned some more before forcing himself away from the table and toward the front counter to get some lids for himself and Mordecai.

The blue jay rolled his eyes at his friend, like he usually does, and began his trek up the stairs out of the coffee house, following Margaret.

As he walked, he thought about the choice he made at the hospital. Was this what he actually wanted? He had been crushing all over this girl forever, and now that he finally had her, he didn't know what to do. He thought the best course of action was to take things slow. She was going to be moving in with Don for a while, so she and Mordecai would be separated during the day. This was fine with the bird. After all they went through together, a little time apart might do them some good. Not to mention that she was still a little frightened of the blue jay after all of that.

Still, it surprised Mordecai how accepting she was of the situation. Apparently, she just decided that the feelings she had for him were legitimate, or at least, she wanted them to feel legit. Who knew? Though, that didn't stop her from slamming her fist into his jaw every now and again after the whole choking incident involving a piece of his psyche. For the most part, she basically owned Mordecai for all the hell he put her and Rigby through. A little physical violence after a few days helped her solidify her feelings for him. We hurt the ones we love, don't we? And she never put any strength into her blows. She'd stop attacking him two weeks later.

Rigby, as it turned out, would be moving in with Skips now that the addition to his shack was finished. The yeti and Benson still hadn't given up on the idea of moving someone in with the mythical creature. And after seeing what had happened when three worker's feelings for one another got involved, they thought it might be best to keep the working duo separated when it came to their personal time. Maybe in time, Mordecai and Rigby could move back in together as friends, without the confusion of romantic feelings getting in the way.

Mordecai was so deep in thought about everything, that he failed to notice the person in front of him coming down the stairs. They bumped into each other, and grabbed a hold of the ledge for balance.

"Sorry," Mordecai apologized, "I guess I wasn't thinking straight."

"Don't worry about it, Mordecai," the man beside him clanked. "I don't think straight at all, myself."

This person knew Mordecai's name. The bird didn't recognize his voice at first, but he was sure he heard his voice in passing before. He looked up to get a glimpse at who this man was in front of him.

"It's you," the blue jay responded. In front of him stood the trash can man from a few weeks before from the Cheezers.

"Yes it is," the man said with joy in his heart. "Name's Richter, at your service."

"Oh, hey," Mordecai said uninterested at the man. "What are you doing here?"

"Why do you think I'm here?" the trash can asked with the same smug happiness in his words, causing Mordecai to chuckle uncomfortably. He looked down at the restaurant area and noticed Rigby talking to someone behind the counter. "I see your better half is here."

"Who, Rigby?" the bird asked looking over at his friend. "Yeah, he's just-"

A thought crossed the blue jay's mind. A smile appeared a moment later. Maybe this whole thing could work out in Rigby's favor after all. Mordecai would just have to use the right words though.

"You aren't a creep, are you?" he asked in a serious tone.

"Excuse me?" Richter said in an almost insulted manner. What a rude question to ask someone you barely know.

"Like, if you and Rigby go out on a date, you won't, like, use him or anything, will you?"

"Where is all of this coming from?" the trash can questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Cause if you hurt him, I'll get you," Mordecai said in a protective tone, "and I mean it."

The bird had fallen into a fit of sporadic white knight syndrome. He would do anything to make sure his friend would be alright, and could hopefully benefit from what he was trying to accomplish. And if his friend could get better by dating other people, then so be it. Truth be told, he wasn't quite sure what he was doing then.

Richter looked at the bird head to toe with a confused and nearly frightened expression. "You're a bit of a crazy one, aren't you?"

Mordecai blushed a little bit, knowing he might have stepped over the line with that last statement. "Sorry. Just trying to help my bro. He's ummm... feeling rejected right now."

Richter began to chuckle, with his lid clanking as he did. He put his hand on the blue jay's shoulder for a moment before descending the stairs and heading towards the direction of the raccoon.

"I can assure you," the trash can said with confidence, "I am 100% a gentleman… and maybe 10% a creep." The man gave Mordecai a quick wink before looking away back toward Rigby.

Mordecai looked down at his feet, hoping what he did would make his friend a little happier in the long run. Instead of waiting around to see the outcome (which he so desperately wanted), he dashed away, to catch up with Margaret, and hoped it would work out for the best. He took a leap of faith to help his friend.

Richter walked up behind the raccoon and looked at him curiously. Rigby was in the middle of a conversation with a new trainee about coffee lids or something of the sort. The trash can could tell this new girl was smitten with the boy on first sight, simply by the way she blushed and shyly tried to answer his questions. Perhaps she was simply suffering from first day jitters?

"Ugh," Rigby groaned as he began to bang his head against the counter. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Eileen," the mole girl answered as she blushed and smiled.

This worked out just fine with Richter. He enjoyed the competition.

* * *

Margaret and Mordecai walked into the empty bedroom and looked around at the red robin's new home.

"Well," she said looking around the room, "this is it. This is my new home."

She pocketed the key she held in her palm and began to walk quietly around the bedroom. The room was nearly the spitting image of the room back at the park house, complete with a twin sized bed, a night stand next to it, and a dresser drawer against the wall across from the bed. Perhaps Don made it like this purposefully to help her adjust. It felt like home to the woman.

Margaret dropped her bag full of belongings onto the ground and jumped onto the bed to feel the mattress up. Good news for her, Don spared no expense in getting the place ready and set up for her. The mattress was just the right amount of softness, and the sheets and blankets smelled so clean and fresh. She couldn't wait to "break" it in with Mordecai. The girl giggled happily as she thought about was she was going to do to Mordecai in just a few short days, or maybe weeks. Teragram told her to be more romantic than lustful so she was going to try that first and see where it leads her.

"I like this," she said to the blue jay as he was walking around the room. "This place is nice."

"I'm happy that you like it," Mordecai said looking out the window of the house, acting as if he owned the room and the bed she would be sleeping on. He saw the park out in the distance thanks to the beautiful hill top location of his two story luxury house.

"I like you," the girl added as she stared at Mordecai.

The male bird looked over at her from the window to find her with her arms outstretched, expecting a hug. Mordecai happily obliged as he stepped over to her and crawled in bed, embracing her body with his wings outstretched as well. Margaret let out a content sigh as she nuzzled into his neck, rubbing her beak up against him in the process.

"I like all of this," she finished as she tightened the hold on the bird.

"Yeah," Mordecai said with a blush and a bit of that old shy feeling erupting inside him.

"So is Rigby gonna be alright with all of this?" she asked suddenly.

"He'll be fine. Maybe he'll find someone new."

"I hope so," Margaret said, finishing the subject of their raccoon friend.

Both Mordecai and Margaret laid in bed, their arms around each other for a good half hour, not saying anything, and just enjoying the warmth. The heat from their bodies blanketed each other, giving the bird's a comfortable loving feeling that they both couldn't get enough of.

Margaret shifted in her spot, trying to get comfortable. She felt her arm begin to fall asleep, and pulled it away from Mordecai, feeling that numb sensation taking over her wing. The girl pulled so hard, Mordecai found himself rolling the other way, and then off the bed completely. Margaret looked down at him with some slight embarrassment on her face, but it changed to shear laughter when the blue jay sat up completely unharmed. All of this without speaking a single word to one another.

Mordecai jumped back onto the bed and rewarded the red robin's foolishness with a kiss on her beak. She of course kissed back, and jumped back into his embrace. A small surge of pleasure shot through her neck as Mordecai began to lick and nip at her, causing her to giggle and moan at the show of attention. His hand began to caress her face, feeling the red feathers underneath his blue ones, and watching the colors clash and dance along with each other.

"So, ummm…," Mordecai said as he temporarily ceased his seduction, "do you wanna…"

"Slow," Margaret sighed. "I wanna take things slow. That's alright, right?"

Mordecai smiled at the robin and rubbed his beak against hers. "That sounds good to me. Just… good."

Margaret smiled happily at him and returned to the embrace they were sharing moments ago. She dug herself into the feathers on his chest, joyfully listening to his heartbeat.

"This is it," she thought to herself. "This is what I wanted."

As if sensing the words she was thinking of, Mordecai squeezed her a little harder and kissed her forehead. Mordecai knew he couldn't stay the night there, since tomorrow was a work day. She needed some time to herself anyways to adjust to the new surroundings. Plus, she still needed to hammer out some personal issues she had with herself before anything could truly flourish. But for the time being, these small moments of sweet embrace and mutual romance were enough to get both of them by.

As the days passed by, those moments got a little longer, and little better each time.

_Take Me Down – Smashing Pumpkins_

**Fin ~ Sky**

* * *

Ending One of Three


	29. Earth

**Epilogue ~ Earth**

**One Day Like This**

Rigby's cries of anger and annoyance could be heard all around the house that day. The little raccoon did his best to try and convince the gumball machine to let him stay somehow and work with his friend and love. No matter how much begging and pleading he did though, Benson refused by saying the exact same thing, every time.

"I don't see why you're angry at me," Benson said with a frown. "Mordecai was the one who fired you. I didn't do anything this time."

"Well you forced him," Rigby screamed as he pointed at the gumball machine feverishly.

"I didn't force him to do anything," the gumball machine retorted, a grin forming on his face. "Shouldn't you be happy at least? He chose to be with you, didn't he?"

Rigby quieted himself. He wasn't going to complain about the outcome to this whole ordeal, no matter how much he wanted to yell about the path that got him there. He finally had the blue jay all to himself, and he was ecstatic about that, but he wasn't particularly pleased that he lost his job and was being thrown out of the house in the process. Not to mention that he has to go live with Don until he gets back on his feet.

"Well I am happy," the raccoon surrendered. "But…"

He looked down at his feet and began to look all pouting. He hoped he could get some sympathy from someone in the room.

"I don't wanna go work for my brother," he whined.

The inhabitants of the room all groaned at his complaining and walked their separate ways. Rigby was surprised to find the park staff giving him a going away party, even if it was a little half hearted. Still, the thought was there, and Rigby did get a new video game the staff pitched in to get him. Thinking about it, they all knew they shouldn't have. He'll probably be playing it for the next month while ignoring the work that his brother will be giving him.

"Oh c'mon Rigbone," Don exclaimed as he knelt down next to his big brother. "It'll be great! You get to be my assistant!"

Don said all this with such an exciting and earnest tone that it almost made it sound believable. In reality, it was going to be a busy, boring, and overall aggravating job to have to deal with in the end. At some point in the future, the poor raccoon will start pulling his fur out in frustration. Luckily, three months from now, Rigby would end up finding a new job at the arcade he and Margaret had their date many moons ago. He would still be the weird one, and nobody would really like him, but much like the park, he wouldn't care either way. As long as he had Mordecai, he would be content with anything. But until then…

"Yeah Don," Rigby moaned in a sarcastic manner, "it's gonna be a blast."

"C'mon bro," the taller raccoon continued, "I know exactly what'll make you feel better."

Don winked and spread his arms out in front of the smaller furry animal. A giant smile appeared on his face as he asked for "sugar" in a questionable tone.

Rigby rolled his eyes at his brother and responded by turning on his heel and walking away from the interaction. There was no way in hell he was going to get caught in those arms once again.

"Alright then," Don said with excitement, "we can save it for later! You owe me some sugar later, okay?"

The small man shivered at the thought of giving his brother "that" and tried to push it out of his mind, no matter how inevitable it was. As he was walking away, he heard his brother make a beeline for Muscle Man, offering him the same "sugar" he had just been asked to take. Rigby hoped that Muscle Man would reject him and maybe even give his other brother a good slap, but knew that Don's charismatic nature wouldn't allow that. Rigby didn't feel like turning around to see the two men in a hug. The thought disturbed him.

The raccoon walked into the kitchen, away from the low yammering party, searching for someone specific. Low and behold, there was Mordecai sitting down at the table, conversing with Margaret and Skips. Well… not as much conversing as listening to Skips explain to Margaret what key does what to her new home.

"And this one," Skips went on, holding a key up, "is for your room. I made sure to put a door on the other side of the room that leads outside just in case you don't want to go through the front door."

"Well that's sweet of you," Margaret said with a smile. "That'll make my dates go a little bit smoother."

"Speaking of that," Skips added as he looked at Margaret it in the eye.

"What's going on in here?" Rigby asked as he pulled up a chair next the group. He noticed Mordecai glance over at him with a smile. The raccoon smiled back and scooted his chair closer to his boyfriend. Their hands clasped together as soon as they were close enough.

"Moving," Margaret groaned as she began to add the three keys on the table to her key ring. She sighed as she squeezed them though the thin opening of the metal loops. "Benson doesn't want Mordecai and I living under the same roof. Says it'll cause 'complications'."

The ring clicked back together as the last key fell against the others inside the loop. "He thinks we're going to cause more trouble," she finished as she pocketed her keys.

"Can you blame him?" Skips said in his usual raspy tone. "You all did destroy the house and almost kill every living thing in this park. I'm surprised he just didn't fire all three of you. He's lucky Mr. Maelard didn't fire him."

"True," Margaret responded, "but does he really think that's going to be enough to keep the three of us apart?"

Everyone at the table exchanged glances at one another.

"I didn't think so," she finished. A smug chuckle escaped her beak a second later, cementing her ideals.

Mordecai rolled his eyes at his old crush. "You're starting to sound like Rigby."

Margaret giggled and looked at the blue jay with sneaky eyes. "Well isn't that a good thing? Doesn't that make me more attractive to you?" she joked.

She watched as Mordecai and Rigby's expressions changed to a more disapproving one. Apparently, those were the wrong choice of words for her to use in the situation. It was understandable though. Mordecai was still trying to get over her after deciding to be with Rigby, and Rigby knew that the slightest nudge could send him back over the edge. Not only did Rigby approve of Mordecai and Margaret living apart, he encouraged Skips to make the back door on the house so that her dates could go much more smoothly.

"Sorry," Margaret said, "didn't mean for it to sound so um… slutty."

Rigby let out a chuckle of his own as he glared evilly at Margaret. "Don't worry about it. It's all a part of my plan! Soon everyone in the world will think and act like me," the raccoon laughed, "and then I shall rule the world!"

He let out a fake evil laugh and acted a goof as he usually did. Margaret followed along giving her own devilish laugh in the process. They both died down a few moments later when they realized no one cared. The two did continue to chuckle under their breath about it though.

"Spoiled sport," Margaret said to Mordecai.  
"You're no fun," Rigby said to Skips.

Mordecai smiled as he watched both Margaret and Rigby laugh together about the same stupid things. He wasn't surprised by this actually, as they had actually learned to get along with each other over the past few months. What he was worried about at the time, though, was that their friendship might end when Mordecai chose Rigby instead of Margaret. And yet, there they were, laughing and playing like it was nothing at all. However, he did notice the resentment the two of them oozed at him self, mostly for the whole black hole thing. But Mordecai let them use him as a punching bag, and that seemed to help vent some frustration about the whole event.

"Whatever dude," Mordecai said with a grin. "Shouldn't we be getting the rest of your stuff together? You start your new job as Don's secretary tomorrow."

"I'M NOT HIS SECRETARY," the raccoon bellowed. "I'm his assistant…"

"Same thing dude," the blue jay chuckled as he pulled himself away from the chair.

Rigby gritted his teeth together as a growl escaped between the gaps. Margaret laughed at him and put a wing on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it Rigby. Being a secretary is great! You can call me during the day, and we can gossip about everyone behind their backs without anyone knowing."

That actually did sound a little entertaining. And god knows the raccoon was going to need to find some sort of entertainment to get through his shifts. And yet, when he would later get the job at the arcade, he would still be doing the same thing gagging it up with the red robin. Nothing's better than gossip with friends, especially when it's about other friends.

Rigby nodded happily as Margaret took her hand off his shoulder. He then released his hold on Mordecai's wing, and pounced onto his back, climbing his way up to his shoulder, and perching himself there. All the while, he repeatedly grunted "hm-hm-hm" in defiance to his lover. Mordecai let out a huff of laughter as he felt the raccoon's legs sling over his shoulder, and his head rest against the top of his own.

"You two play nice now," Margaret told them as she watched the duo disappear out of the kitchen. Her attention returned to Skips a moment later who looked as though he would rather be outside working than there. "Anything else I should know before I head back to the party?"

"Not really," Skips said with a vacant stare. "Just make sure to have your stuff moved in before the end of the day, today." He had forgotten to talk to Margaret about dating rules in the shack. He'd remember later though.

Margaret nodded and stood up from the table. She was about to walk away when Benson came in with an exhausted look about his face. He walked over to the table, pulled up a chair next to Skips, sat down, and slammed his head against the table top. Margaret smiled as she watched her employer act out in his usual stressed way. When she watched Skips sling his arm around the gumball machines neck and let it rest over his shoulder, Margaret sighed and rolled her eyes.

"What do you know," she said to herself, "Teragram was right."

She stamped her foot on the ground and exclaimed, "and you people wonder why I'm still single!" catching the attention of everyone around her. "It's because all the good guys are running off with other men! Ugh!"

She began stomp out of the kitchen, noticing that everyone was watching her quizzically. She felt a wave of embarrassment sweep over her.

"And now I look like a lunatic," she muttered as she walked through the living room, making a straight shot for the front door.

Right as she was about to exit, she was stopped when someone grabbed on to her shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?" Don asked her with enthusiasm. "You haven't given me any sugar since I got here!"

The red robin grunted as she heard the man's voice. She really didn't feel like turning around and having her eyes go straight to his crotch again. His body still disturbed her slightly.

"Ummm," she started, "I'm kind of not in a sugar sort of mood Don. Can we take a rain check on that?"

"Rain check sounds good to me," the tall raccoon said out with a smile. "How about next Saturday at seven o'clock after work?"

It took Margaret a moment to process what he just said. Did he seriously just ask her out on a date? The first thing that hit her mind was an emphatic "NO". But she didn't say it. Instead she thought about it. Don did seem kind of sweet, when she wasn't looking at his nether regions, or his strangely shaped body. And he did seem like the type of caring person she was looking for. Not only that, but she needed to get back into the habit of dating somehow.

"Sure," she said without even turning around. "But only if you promise to wear some pants."

Which he did.

* * *

Mordecai stuffed whatever was left of his friends belonging into the oversized travel bag and zipped it up. It got caught halfway there, but instead of fixing the zipper he just left it as is and forgot about it. Rigby would just throw everything of his in random directions anyways as soon as he got to Don's, so it wasn't like it would make any difference what so ever.

The blue jay looked over at his little friend on the bed. The raccoon was on his back looking up at the ceiling, tracing the outline of the sunshine coming in through the window of the room. His thoughts were scrambling back and forth about what had happened and how everything turned out. He had found himself doing that a lot lately.

He still couldn't believe how everything panned out. The overly excitable raccoon was absolutely sure he was going to come out of this whole ordeal with the short end of the stick, probably alone and unhappy, but still content that his friends were happy. But that wasn't how it ended up being. In fact, it turned out better than he had originally wanted. Everyone ended up happy, if not still a little agitated and concerned with one another and their sanity. But at least Rigby ended up getting the man of his dreams, as girly as that sounded.

"Hey, hey," Mordecai alerted, "earth to Rigby, you still there?"

The bird began to wave his wing in front of the raccoon's face, hoping to alert his lover. It didn't work at first. The little bundle was still too far deep in thought.

"Hm, wha," Rigby whispered as his friend began to catch his attention finally. "I'm here, I'm here!"

Mordecai chuckled and sat on the edge of the bed. "No you aren't dude. You're laying there thinking about me."

"So what if I am?" Rigby replied. "It's not my fault I keep thinking about how bad you want me."

"How bad I want…?" Mordecai broke off. "I wasn't the one who's been totally gay for me since like forever."

"STOP-"

"-talking," the blue jay finished his outburst. "We already know that part Rigby."

Mordecai allowed more laughter to escape his beak as he teased his boyfriend.

Boyfriend…

He never thought he would ever be calling Rigby that one day. That word was familiar to him, but he just never thought he would actually be using it to describe his feelings for his best friend some day. Was anything going to be different between the two of them now? Would they still act like crazy best friends, or would it be more serious? Those kind of thoughts scared him. Mordecai still wasn't sure if he should be acting any different around Rigby because of it.

Rigby sat up from the bed and placed himself next to the bird. He looked at his new loves face and tried to figure out what was wrong.

"You okay, bro?" the raccoon asked as he snatched up Mordecai's wing in his own. "You don't look so good."

"Yeah," the blue jay replied. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just fine… fine…"

"You're thinking about us aren't you?"

Mordecai flinched. How was it that Rigby was always able to figure out what was wrong with him? They really had been together far too long. Why they hadn't ever actually "gotten together" after all that time was beyond him.

"A little," Mordecai replied.

"Liiiiiiiike…?" Rigby pestered.

The avian sighed and looked down at his best friend. "It's just weird, ya know. I still haven't gotten over the fact that we're, like, together together now. I just never thought I'd be… together together with you."

Rigby smiled at Mordecai and leaned against him, putting the bulk of his weight against the side of the bird. "Well then why did you choose me?"

"Well because…"

Mordecai looked at those deep endless abysses in Rigby's eyes. They were welcoming and so inviting. He didn't need to answer why he chose the raccoon over the robin. His answer was already in there, and Rigby already knew why anyways.

The blue jay leaned down slightly and rubbed his beak against the raccoon's furry cheek, causing Rigby to let out a fit of laughter. The animal wasted no time in attacking the bird's mouth in a kiss, letting their passion run free for a few moments before escaping back into reality.

They both peered into each others souls happily. That moment was perfect for the both of them, giving each other all the answers to the questions that neither of them really needed to ask. Still, Mordecai wasn't 100% convinced.

"So," he started in a soft voice, "this is gonna work out, right? You and me, I mean."

Rigby leaned up and gave the bird a quick kiss on his beak. "Yeah. Why wouldn't it? It's worked this long for us, right?"

Mordecai snorted out some more laughter and hugged the raccoon close to him. The feeling of fur against his feathers made it all seem worth while. Those warm and soft little cushions that surrounded Rigby's body always found a way to make him feel better about anything. Years and years from now, he would still enjoy that feeling every time.

_One Day Like This – Elbow_

**Fin ~ Earth**

* * *

Ending Two of Three


	30. Ocean

**Epilogue ~ Ocean**

**Gravity**

Mordecai kept his eyes closed, trying his best to take in the sounds of the ocean and the chirping of sea gulls. He never really understood why things like this were supposed to be relaxing to other people. True, he had always had fantasies about the beach, but it was usually with another person. The idea behind it was sound enough, but just the beach itself and no one else? That seemed pretty dull to him actually.

"You know what," Mordecai said opening his eyes, "this really bites."

Martin Ploddevize sighed and placed his head into the palm of his hand. The other hand swiftly reached over to the tape recorder next to him and pressed down on the off switch. "I don't particularly like these exercises either," he said with little enthusiasm. "You know me, I'm usually a balls to the walls type of person. If I could, I would be using death metal and gangsta rap as my method of sound relaxation technique."

Mordecai shuttered at the thought of those two genres of music clashing together as a form of relaxation. How anyone could like that noise, is beyond him.

"You know dude," the bird began, "your taste in music really sucks."

The doctor looked at him and slanted his eyes. "First off, I'm only using these kinds of sounds because I'm wanting to take things slow, or did you forget that your medical charts now have you listed as prone to violent and unstable outbursts?"

"Hey I never attacked anyone," Mordecai argued.

"Inadvertently, you sure as hell did," the doctor countered. "And honestly, I wouldn't want to be locked in the same room as you. And second off, people who listen to a combination of 80s rock and power noise techno, shouldn't be throwing stones."

The bird's face then contorted into something of a cross between confusion and amusement. "That doesn't even make sense," he yelled at Martin.

"It doesn't have to, I'm a doctor," the doctor countered once again.

Another familiar awkward silence filled the room as the two remained locked on each other, curious to see who would be the first to attack.

Two weeks ago, Mordecai found himself in the midst of a dilemma. After Margaret, Rigby, and himself had been spit out of the black hole, they awoke to find themselves in a hospital, biding their time and waiting for the next bit of insanity to come their way. Benson was there when Mordecai woke up, giving him a choice. Said choice required Mordecai to choose the one he had been wanting to be with the most, and then that person would be fired from the park. It was a difficult decision, but it surprised everyone to see him make it up so quickly and on the very day he had waken back up from his "nightmare".

Thinking of everything that he had put his friends and coworkers through, including the ones he loved most, he knew there really was only once choice to make.

"So I hear today is your last day at the park," Ploddevize said, finally breaking the silence.

Mordecai suddenly felt ill, completely forgetting that today was indeed his last day of employment at the city park.

"Can I ask you something?" the doctor continued. "Why did you let yourself go, instead of just choosing one of them?"

The psychiatrist shifted in his seat slightly to try and get into a more comfortable position. "I mean, you could have just lied and the three of you could of carried on your little threesome fantasy."

The blue jay twitched, remembering what their little "fantasy" created, not to mention just how screwed up it made their lives. It was nothing short of a miracle that the three of them were still on speaking terms with one another. Well, there were some repercussions. For example, Mordecai found himself on the receiving end of daily beatings from his friends. And while Rigby never could actually hurt Mordecai with his punches, Margaret more than made up for the both of them by throwing a few mean left hooks to his beak and jaw, as well as the occasional to kick to the groin.

"Hello?" Martin bellowed out. "Are you spacing out again?"

Mordecai was quickly brought back into reality by the attention of his therapist, whom Don was nice enough to pay for. The bird groaned as he realized that he was going to be stuck with these weekly sessions for the next three months at the very least.

"I'm fine," Mordecai muttered, "just thinking."

He expected the man in front of him to give some witty comment about that, or find a way to attack his character. Instead, the therapist just gave him a shrug and stood up from his desk.

Mordecai watched as he trailed the room in a random manner, not really caring where he was going. The bird sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I threw myself out of the park cause I was an idiot."

"You don't see me arguing that," Martin said as he stopped momentarily at a counter and pulled an apple out of a fruit basket.

Mordecai rolled his eyes and continued. "I just kind of feel like if I stay there any longer it's only going to get worse. I mean… I killed them twice, dude! On the same day! How can that get any worse?"

"You'd be surprised," Martin said as he bit into the apple.

"Exactly," Mordecai replied, "so I thought, why not try to actually get away this time, and really collect myself. I think the time by myself will do me some good."

"I agree," the doctor said as he took another bite.

It actually amused the doctor to hear his patient say this. He had heard about the first time Mordecai tried to run away, and he was there when he did it a second time. What made Martin laugh more than anything else was Mordecai's friend's choice of words. Running away? If anything, he was trying to get away and reflect on everything that happened. Martin couldn't help but think that if Margaret and Rigby actually had let him go for a while, he might have come back a better person and all of this might have been avoided. Then again, knowing this bird's personality and the personality of his friend's, it could have been much worse too. But no matter how many times he theorized this and that about the group, he came to the same conclusion.

"You're all a fucked up bunch."

Mordecai looked at him with anger in his eyes. How in the hell was he going to deal with this man for the next few months? He looked up at the wall clock and sighed.

"Can I go now?" the bird asked.

Martin Ploddevize nodded to him slightly and waved him along as he chucked the remainder of his apple into a nearby trash can.

* * *

There were a lot of times during Mordecai's stay at the park house that he just wished he could get out of there. He had even had some joke fantasies about him and Rigby burning the house down as a way of departure. He always thought that he and Rigby would be together when the time came to leave. But Rigby wasn't coming with, no matter how hard he wanted to. Poor Mordecai had to convince Benson to keep Rigby on the payroll, even after the raccoon started screaming about quitting and staying along side Mordecai. Eventually, Rigby let up and decided to stay with the park. A job was a job anyways. Mordecai wasn't particularly looking forward to his new job as Don's assistant, but he tried to think that he was getting paid and he wouldn't be far from the park, so he could see his friends.

He sat alone in the living room on the couch, looking at everything all around him: photos of the park staff, little knick knacks and antiques on coffee tables and floor stands, the TV that he and Rigby used to play video games on all the time. It was remarkable how little meaning they had to him when he lives there, and how much they now meant to him now that he was leaving. Mordecai felt as if he might start crying. But he kept it in. He wanted to leave with his head held high.

Benson and Skips had suggested that they throw a going away party for him, but he refused. He felt as if he didn't deserve it. They were at least nice enough to take everything to Don's already so he wouldn't have to do any work. All these nice gestures and suggestions, and the bird hadn't even said a single thank you yet. It was at that moment when he realized just how depressing he was.

Don was on his way to pick him up. It was getting pretty late in the day, and the younger raccoon thought it was a good idea for him to get used to his surroundings. Mordecai desperately wanted Rigby and Margaret to come along, but once again, stopped himself from doing it. If he was going to truly get over everything that had happened the past few months, he was going to have to do it himself.

"Still acting all mopey, I see," said a feminine voice coming up from behind him. He turned around to find Margaret, with Rigby around her neck, staring down at him with concern. They both helped themselves to a seat next to bird, each taking up a different side.

Mordecai feigned a smile before saying, "well, it's kind of hard leaving a place you call home."

Rigby let out a small chuckle before reminding him that he used to want to burn this place down. "I remember you telling me how we were going to do it too! It was gonna be awesome man!"

Margaret giggled as well. "So I can add arson to the list of things I find screwed about the two of you?"

She continued to giggle, but stopped momentarily when she saw that Mordecai didn't find that funny in the least bit. The smiles wiped from her and Rigby's face. They looked at each other, trying to think of a way to make the bird smile again.

"C'mon, dude," Rigby started, "you're the lucky one! You finally get to leave this place!"

"Yeah," Margaret added, "you don't have to deal with Benson anymore!"

He still didn't say anything. The other two were starting to feel a little depressed as well. True, they had treated Mordecai as a punching bag lately, but they really didn't mean to be nasty or anything. They were just being playful, and were venting some frustration out on him. God knows, he deserved it. But lately, the closer it got to his date of leaving, the worse he felt. They stopped punching and teasing him when that happened, growing more worried as time went on. Now here they were, on the day of his departure, and he was locked in a mood that would make any emotionally filled teenager blush.

_HONK HONK_

The sound of a car horn told the group only one thing: Don was here, and he was ready to pick up Mordecai. The blue jay picked him self up from off the couch without saying so much as a peep. The other stood up just as fast and followed him outside.

"Mordecai," Rigby yelled as they stepped out onto the porch. He didn't turn around.

"Mordecai," Margaret screamed as well, hoping to catch his attention. But it didn't work, and he began to pick up the pace.

Right as Mordecai was about to start down the steps, he felt someone grab his shoulder and turn him around. He didn't even have time to react before Margaret's wing slapped him across the face as hard as she could. The slap was just enough to daze the blue jay for a few seconds. A moment later, he felt Margaret's wings wrap around him.

"Quit with the grimdark shit," she said into his ear. "I can't stand it anymore."

She pulled away from the hug, keeping her hands on his shoulders, and looked him in the eye. "Quit blaming yourself for what happened, okay? We screwed up just as much as you did too."

Rigby suddenly appeared on Margaret's shoulders, nodding along with what she was saying. "Yeah dude," he added, "I don't like how you're acting right now. I don't like this Mordecai."

"Neither do I," Margaret said in agreement.

"Think about it dude," Rigby continued, "if you keep acting like this you're gonna create another black hole on your neck."

Mordecai instinctively placed his wing on the back of his neck, feeling for anything out of place. Luckily, the only thing there was feathers.

"Quit acting like this," Margaret said to him. "It's kind of annoying, and I liked you better when you were shy and bumbling around me."

"We're still friends, man," Rigby went on. "Stop acting like a girl and grow a pair."

"Yeah," the red robin said with a smile, "quit acting like a girl and grow a pair. Like me! And unlike Rigby."

Rigby and Margaret laughed at each other and hoped the amusement would spread over to Mordecai. Mordecai watched the two of them so happy together and smiled.

"I like this," he finally spoke.

The other two looked at him with wide eyes, as if this was the first time he had said anything in years. Still, they felt a little bewildered by what he meant.

"What do you mean?" Margaret asked.

"I liked seeing the two of you happy like this," he answered her. "You know, the more I think about it, the more I think you two kind of fit together."

Rigby and Margaret looked at each other and then back at him. "Are you serious?" Rigby asked him. "You sure you're not dying again?"

Mordecai let a big smile come over his face. He nodded. "I'm dead serious, you hole. I actually like the idea of you two being together. I mean you both are way to happy for your own good, you like a lot of the same things, and you got me as a friend to support ya."

Margaret narrowed her eyes sympathetically. "Mordecai, you really shouldn't be saying stuff like this-"

"But it helps," he said cutting her off. "It actually makes me happy seeing the two of you so… happy. Kind of like… maybe this was supposed to happen."

It felt like Mordecai was stumbling with his words, and didn't have a clue what he was saying. But in actuality, he knew exactly what he was doing, and it truthfully made him happy. Margaret and Rigby didn't understand this at first.

Instead of saying anything more on the subject, the two just wrapped their arms around him again into a group hug. Mordecai hugged them both back, smiling happily as he did.

In the blink of an eye, he was already in Don's car, looking back at the two of them: Margaret in all her brave glory holding the excitable and friendly Rigby in her arms as they both waved goodbye. Don was saying something to Mordecai about food and dinner, but he wasn't listening. He was too busy watching his friend's disappear into the distance, and then the park just as well. The city blurred by as he realized that his old home was behind him now. But he was happy. He knew he made the right choice in the end and wasn't afraid to admit it.

He promised that he would come visit them every chance he got. And he did.

Margaret and Rigby sat down on the steps of the porch looking out into the park. Rigby stayed within her grasp, sitting on her lap while she clutched the furry creature tight to her. The fur and feathers felt nice against each other. But this was something that they all knew now. When Margaret was about to start crying, Rigby held her hand, and the tears stopped from coming. They both smiled at each other and looked back out into the park.

The sun was setting on the never ending flow of green in front of them. The yellow sun and blue sky were disappearing from the sky, replaced with pale white and a midnight black. And even then it was still the perfect colors to represent a nowhere little park in the middle of a nowhere little city, in a nowhere little state, filled with uninteresting and regular people. Of course this isn't to say that these people are regular in the sense that they are boring. Each person has their own little quirks and kinks that make them who they are. In that sense, these nowhere and uninteresting people are anything but regular. Especially in the middle of a sleepy, uninteresting, regular park.

Regular people tend to live regular lives. At least they seem to be regular at first. Or maybe it's just that one person's definition of regular is more bizarre to them than others.

Regular.

Margaret and Rigby agreed that they were anything but, and they knew that Mordecai would agree with them. But they liked being unordinary. They liked being anything but regular. It made life more interesting, more fascinating, more exciting. Everything seemed new and amazing that way. True, it made the world seem that much more terrifying as well. But it brought a special sense of charm to it that they wouldn't change for anything in the world. And for that, they pitied the regular people who forced themselves to live their regular lives. They were missing out on all the fun.

"You know," Margaret began as she looked at the night sky, "we still have to decide who's going to go live at Skips' place." She then held up a key ring that the yeti had made for the two of them.

Rigby shuttered, completely forgetting that Benson ordered them to sleep apart. One got the bedroom in the house, and the other got the bedroom addition that Skips built onto his shack.

"Punchies?" Rigby asked the red robin.

"Definitely," she said looking down at the raccoon.

He punched her in the shoulder. She punched him back. She let Rigby win. He knew that Margaret let him win. He got the house, she got the shack. Though, they didn't really go their separate ways the first night. Neither the red robin or the raccoon felt like being alone for a while.

"Goodnight Rigby," Margaret said as she cuddled up with Rigby in bed.

"Goodnight Margaret," Rigby said as he nuzzled himself against Margaret's feathers.

Somewhere outside the city, a blue jay was looking out onto the view of tall buildings and bright lights, with the park off in the distance.

"Goodnight, Margaret. Goodnight Rigby," Mordecai said calmly with a satisfied smile on his face.

He reached over to a lamp on the night stand, and clicked it off.

_Gravity – Sara Bareilles_

**Fin ~ Ocean**

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Ending Three of Three

_Sky, Ocean, and Earth – Koichi Sugiyama_

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**Author's Notes**

Well, that's it. It's done. You know, it's weird finishing a story of this behemoth proportion. I got all the way here ready to be done and finished with it, but now… I actually feel sad. Like, so sad I actually want to cry. This seems really silly to me considering this was just a fanfic. I don't know. I guess I'm just feeling sentimental. I've spent the past eight months working on this thing nonstop and now… I don't know. I really don't know how to feel now that it's over.

I wanna thank every single reviewer and fan on here and /co/ for giving me the drive to keep going with this thing for so long. I'm happy that many of you have grown to love this, and it shows by the 200+ reviews I've gotten. You all were the ones that kept me going till the very end, by giving me inspiration, drive, and critiques that helped me slowly become a better writer as the story went on. Thank you so much.

I don't know what else to say besides thank you. I would thank everyone here by name, but I know that there are just too many to name openly. I don't know if I'll ever write anything like this ever again. And if I do, I hope that everyone who reads it is just as supportive as you all. Thanks again.

I think I'm kind of gushing at this point, so I think I'll just stop here. I hope you all enjoyed every minute of this story, new and old readers alike. THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN!

*hugs*

_So Until Next Fic…_

_Adieu…_


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